By Abuja, Nigeria
There was mild drama during today’s plenary at the House of Representative as lawmakers disagreed over a motion seeking to revoke the passage of the Electoral Act as amended.
The rowdy session followed a motion moved by Chairman of the House of Representatives committee on rules and business, Francis Waive, for the House to reverse its decision on the bill which was passed on December 23, 2025.
When Speaker of the House, Tajudeen Abbas, ruled against the lawmakers who voted against the motion, the ruling triggered protests from lawmakers in objection. Abbas subsequently called for an executive session, but the proposal was also rejected. Despite the resistance, the speaker moved the house into an executive session.
However, protesters today, returned to the National Assembly, calling on the Senate President and the entire Senate to pass the electoral act, mandating compulsory real-time transmission of election results from polling units to the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC’s IREV portal.
The protesters with different placards such as “Don’t alter the bill, pass it,” and “Rigging election is a coup,” alongside other inscriptions, urged the leadership of the National Assembly to prioritise the bill.
Recall that the electoral act amendment has generated a lot of controversies especially from the opposition parties and civil society organisations.
