From Victor Osula, Abuja
The Senate, on Thursday, declared that the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) is not yet equipped to conduct electronic voting in Nigeria, clarifying that the electronic transmission of election results being discussed in the ongoing Electoral Bill review does not amount to e-voting.
The Chairman of the Senate Ad hoc Panel to Review the 2026 Electoral Bill, Adeniyi Adegbonmire, made the clarification during a programme in Abuja, stressing that Nigeria has not transitioned to an e-voting system despite widespread public speculation.
Adegbonmire also explained that the INEC Result Viewing Portal (IReV) is not an electronic voting platform but a results publication tool designed to enhance transparency.
“IReV is not an e-voting platform. It is a platform where election results that have been manually counted and declared at the polling units are uploaded and publicised”, he stated.
The senator drew a clear distinction between electronic transmission of results and electronic voting, noting that real-time transmission can only occur where an e-voting system is fully deployed.
“For now, INEC does not have the capability for e-voting. Maybe in two or three years, we can adopt e-voting. But as of today, INEC has not put an e-voting system in place”, he said.
According to him, much of the controversy stems from misinformation and misinterpretation of provisions in the Electoral Bill currently under review by the National Assembly.
Tne Senate constituted the ad hoc committee to review the report of its Committee on Electoral Matters, harmonise divergent views and address grey areas identified during the legislative process.
Adegbonmire explained that under existing arrangements, results are first manually recorded by presiding officers on Form EC8A at polling units before being uploaded to the IReV portal.
“The provision you keep emphasising says the presiding officer will first fill the result manually in Form EC8A. It is the Form EC8A that has been filled manually and will be transmitted to IReV”, he added.
Adegbonmire argued that changing the wording in the bill from “transmit” to “upload” would not alter the substance of the process.
“If we change ‘transmit’ to ‘upload’ in the Electoral Bill, 2026, will it change anything? The answer is no”, he said.
The lawmaker, who also chairs the Senate Committee on Judiciary, Human Rights and Legal Matters, warned that misconceptions surrounding IReV could have serious implications for national stability and peaceful coexistence.
“It is important to understand what IReV does because there is a lot of misconception or deliberate misrepresentation of what it stands for”, he said, emphasising that the Senate never opposed the use of IReV in future elections, including the 2027 polls.
“The Senate never said INEC should not use IReV for the 2027 elections. IReV is a software developed by INEC to publicise results already declared at the polling units across the federation”, Adegbonmire stated.
Addressing arguments that the House of Representatives’ version of the bill should be adopted, the senator described such positions as based on misunderstanding.
He explained that the House provision merely states that results should be electronically transmitted to the IReV portal in real time after Form EC8A has been signed by the presiding officer and countersigned by party agents.
“This is not an emotional argument. It is about understanding the process correctly”, he concluded.
Adegbonmire urged the media and the public to avoid spreading misinformation, stressing that accurate understanding of electoral procedures is critical to sustaining public trust and democratic stability in the country.
