Akpabio: Electoral Act will ensure Direct Primaries, Electronic Transmission to IREV

By Reporter

Nigeria Senate President Godswill Akpabio has stressed that the Electoral Act 2026 (Amendment), that has been signed into law by President Bola Tinubu, requires direct primaries for political parties to pick their candidates—allowing members to vote directly for their preferred candidates.

Speaking to State House correspondents on Wednesday, Akpabio said the amendment also mandates the electronic transmission of polling unit results to the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) result viewing portal (iREV), ensuring transparency and minimizing the risk of result manipulation between polling units and collation centres.

He explained that the law allows results to be uploaded electronically from polling units, with contingency measures for areas with limited network coverage.

Copies of results signed by presiding officers, agents, and security personnel will serve as primary sources, with electronic transmission taking place once connectivity is available. This enables Nigerians to verify results at ward, local government, and state levels.

On party primaries, Akpabio emphasized that the amendment strengthens participatory democracy. Party members will now directly vote for their candidates instead of relying solely on delegate selection, giving citizens more influence over the choice of candidates.

He further noted that the law requires fresh elections in cases where an election winner is disqualified, rather than automatically declaring the runner-up victorious, and stressed that similar provisions apply to governorship elections to ensure candidates meet constitutional requirements.