The Social Democratic Party (SDP) has expressed deep worries by the deliberate attempts of the leadership of the 10th senate to go against the popular will of Nigerians to have a definitive legislative mandate that will allow for real-time transmission of election results.
In a statement signed by the National Publicity Secretary, Araba Rufus Aiyenigba, SDP described actions of the senate leadership as unimaginable and unpatriotic.
The party noted that across the country, citizens have unequivocally spoken and expressed their desires for democratic consolidation to have us move beyond the challenges of credible elections that they had in the 2023 general elections, through the extensive nationwide public hearings that the Senate itself conducted in 2025 for the Electoral Act (Repeal and Enactment) Bill 2026.
SDP asserted that to have critical reforms that will enhance and ensure transparency in the nation’s elections and build public trust, the Bimodal Voter Accreditation System (BVAS) and the INEC Result Viewing Portal (IReV) are fundamentally critical, particularly in having human errors reduced and to prevent manipulation of results during manual transportation by anti-democracy agents.
“It is no longer deniable that the majority of our current senators who are true patriots, Nigerian citizens and the nation’s electoral umpire itself, want us to move forward in our quest for integrity of our elections, particularly going by the positive disposition of the new leadership of the INEC to incorporating integrity into our electoral processes anchored on transparency and credible elections,” the statement read.
The Party warned, in strong terms, that the self-serving cabals within the senate leadership can no longer hold Nigeria’s democracy to ransom, and demanded in that the new Electoral Act (Repeal and Enactment) 2026 must as a matter of true national interest, come up with an unambiguous legislative mandate and legal command on electronic transmission of results in real-time by polling unit presiding officers to avoid any possible legal manipulation of our future elections.
“The INEC has demonstrated that it has the infrastructure, technical capacity, will, and patriotic disposition to effectively transmit election results in real-time if the anti-democratic hawks would allow the Commission to do its duties without any encumbrances.”
The SDP called on the citizenry, civil society groups and all democrats to step up strongly, their resistance against the few holders of their mandates, who are hell-bent on promoting and serving their interest against the true interest of Nigeria.
“The nation can not afford to have the 2027 general elections go the way of lack of credibility as we had in 2023. All hands must, therefore, be on deck to save our democracy and Nigeria from taking retrograde steps in this new age,” the statement added.
