Electoral Act Amendment: Senate ‘Caught Cheating Nigerians’, Bugaje Accuses Akpabio-Led Leadership

Calls for mandatory real-time transmission of results as debate over Supreme Court ruling intensifies

Fresh controversy has trailed efforts to amend Nigeria’s Electoral Act after Islamic scholar and political activist, Dr Usman Bugaje, accused the Senate leadership under Senate President Godswill Akpabio of repeatedly undermining democratic reforms.

Speaking on Arise Television’s Morning Show on Tuesday, Bugaje defended moves to amend the law following a recent Supreme Court ruling, arguing that clearer legal provisions are now required to guarantee transparency in elections — particularly through the mandatory electronic transmission of results in real time.

He said the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) had already recommended compulsory real-time transmission of election results, a proposal he noted has been adopted by the House of Representatives but allegedly resisted by the Senate.

“You see, this is precisely because of that ruling of the Supreme Court, it has become necessary for us to now go back and amend the law for clarity, accuracy and precision, so that everybody will be clear,” Bugaje said.

“The whole idea is to do a transparent election, and the best way is to make sure that the results are available electronically, immediately — that’s real time — so that everybody can see exactly where the votes are.”

He went further to criticise the Senate’s legislative record, alleging previous lapses in handling tax legislation and budget processes which, he claimed, created confusion and disrupted economic planning.

“INEC has gone as far as saying that there should be mandatory transmission of results in real time. The House of Reps have done exactly that, while the Senate is always caught cheating or deceiving people,” he said.

Bugaje argued that alleged irregularities in past budget handling had resulted in multiple overlapping budgets, making it difficult for businesses and citizens to understand which fiscal framework was operational.

“They have done that with padding of budgets, and as a result of the mess they have done, we have now nearly three budgets, none of which is really functional. You don’t know where really you are,” he added.

Describing the Senate leadership as a major challenge to governance, Bugaje called for increased public scrutiny of its actions once the Electoral Act amendment process is concluded.

He maintained that there is growing public support for real-time electronic transmission of election results and insisted that Nigerians would accept nothing less.