Electoral Act 2026 Rift: More Excuses, More Lies To Legalise Rigging

By Ikeddy ISIGUZO —

WHAT lies cannot do, more lies can do. The foundation of the saying is the famous quote of Senate President Obong Godswill Akpabio, “What money cannot do, more money can do”.

Could this have informed the inability of the 109-member Senate to agree on the text of amendments to Section 60 to stop the alterations on figures from polling units through the various collation centres that produce the results of our elections?

The House of Representatives, whose 360-membership is more than thrice the size of the Senate, has kept to the wording of the joint Committee works, workshops, and conferences on “electronic transmission of results”.

In most contributions from APC Senators, their reasons for not accepting “electronic transmission of results” jump from excuses to lies. What are their fears?

Plainly put, their party has done so badly in almost every sphere that they know that free and fair elections would see them lose power.

The nightmare of 2023, where the “tech glitch” applied to only the presidential election and handed Bola Ahmed Tinubu victory, is something they cannot go through again.

APC’s latest story is that telecommunication network failure, non-coverage of some parts of the country and the capacity of the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, could adversely affect “electronic transmission of results” from polling units.

INEC has dismissed these fears by 2022, saying that its iREV jumps those obstacles effectively. Where there are network challenges, results uploaded to iREV would transmit once the machines are within areas with network coverage.

Politicians whose winning strategy is rigging still come up with more excuses, in fact, lies. They want “electronic transmission of results” to be clothed in contentious lines that the courts would determine their meanings.

Our country has moved mainly backwards since the APC came to power in 2015. The backwardness has been incremental. Few Nigerians imagined that Nigeria could get worse, to the point that Muhammadu Buhari’s Nigeria was paradise.

Who would have believed that a Buhari successor would be worse than Buhari? Who would think that Tinubu’s incompetence, his version of patriotism that centres on selfishness, would be like this?

Trillions are budgeted annually, and the money manages to disappear. No work done, no services provided, not to mention insecurity where Tinubu’s interest stutters depending on where he is visiting next.

Contractors have not been paid a dime, some for work completed since 2024. Their protests have been addressed with more promises. Interests on loans they took to finance the contracts have put them in penury. Some have perished with worries from the burdens of being government contractors.

Insecurity affects all. Farmers cannot produce. The roads are so unsafe that to travel on them is close to attempting suicide. Tinubu does nothing about these.

Places like Zamfara are in a different security category. The fight for gold, the invested interests, and the government’s lack of care, evidenced by ignoring the loss of lives and territory, are further proofs that being President is good enough for Tinubu.

As a lost second term stares at him, he is desperate to return. Tinubu more than anyone else knows he has not done well. Those around him try to confuse him, but the fact is that Tinubu is incapable of doing anything useful for Nigeria.

With Tinubu in power, the scramble for Nigeria continues. There is no time to build a nation. No time to protect our people from bandits and terrorists who know that Tinubu’s inattentive government is not on the side of Nigerians.

Give Tinubu his presidential jets, mention the most unimportant international events to him, and he is off and promoting his foreign trips as if they were the entire essence of his presidency.

The fights over the Electoral Act 2026 are pushing for the APC to retain power, and the opposition’s unwillingness to witness another tenure for Tinubu. The only APC that can win in 2027 is by “other means”. APC dreads free and fair elections.

Which Nigerians would vote again for a President and party that have proudly built a nation where our governments oppress us?

Nigerians must be vigilant as we march to 2027. The fight for our individual survival is real against a government that does not care whether hunger or bandits kill us.

We deserve better.

Finally…

PROF Ali Pate, Minister of Health, said his Ministry received N36 million, yes, millions, in 2025 for capital projects, while in the same period the President’s SA on Media & Policy Communication got N500 million for Strategic Global Media Engagements. Tinubu has priorities.

ZAMFARA State’s budget of N1 billion to build modern graveyards in its 14 local government areas has drawn a lot of attention from critics. We must accept that different parts of Nigeria face different challenges. The number of deaths from insurgency demands action from the state government. Governor Dauda Lawal of PDP, tired of complaining about security agencies that only take orders from Abuja, has embarked on what he can. If the government cannot serve the living, let it accord the dead respect. Zamfara tells the story of Nigeria from another angle.