Former Resident Electoral Commissioner of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), Mike Igini, has raised alarm over what he describes as dangerous implications of recently proposed electoral changes, warning that presiding officers could face serious threats at polling units.
Speaking on the development during an interview with ARISE TV Morning Show on Wednesday, Igini, a lawyer, called on President Bola Tinubu to withhold assent on the recently passed Electoral Act (Repeal and Re-Enactment) Bill 2026, describing it as “a recipe for chaos” that could undermine Nigeria’s democracy.
After much public outrage over the contentious provisions under Clause 60 on electronic transmission of results, the National Assembly, following the setting up of a conference committee to harmonise the positions of the lower and upper chambers, passed a bill for electronic transmission and manual backup on Tuesday.
In his reaction, Igini, said the bill placed the polling officer in danger as doggy politicians are likely to exploit the provision on manual backup in the bill to rig results even if voters’ phones indicate that network is available.
He stated that unnamed governor disrupted network in his state during the 2019 poll, as an example of how desperate politicians can go to rig results, adding that the manual backup in the Electoral Amendment Bill provided loophole for exploitation.
“The danger of what has been passed is that we are bringing back what they call Incident Form. This is another version of Incident Form because there will be no network.
“When we introduced Card Reader, we decided to have an application for those who don’t have fingers. We were looking for an all-inclusive electoral process. But you know what happened? Politicians connived with INEC pool staff. That application for only those who don’t have fingers was now used to use Incident Form. The whole community no longer had fingers, and all of that.
“You see, discretionary power can be abused. The danger of what is going to happen in 2027 is as follows. At the polling units, presiding officers’ lives are going to be in danger because where Nigerians are gathered, results of polling have been announced, everyone could look at his telephone and you could see network. But the presiding officer says that there’s no network. You are going to put the life of that presiding officer in danger.
“Meanwhile, the children of all the political elites are not going to be at the polling unit. It’s the youth corps members that they’re going to be faced with. This is a clear danger. So what they are going to do now is like an Incident Form. Another version of Incident Form, which is for you to sabotage the entire thing.”
“It is indeed my humble recommendation to Mr President that you are a man of history. You were a senior man to very many of us in the struggle at the time when the journey of Nigeria and the prospect of democracy was less certain, my advice is that he should reject the bill,” he said.
He further reminded the president of the 2015 struggle to ensure elections reflect the people’s will.
