The Presidency has cautioned against repeated amendments to Nigeria’s electoral laws, stressing that the adoption of compulsory electronic transmission of election results must be anchored on improved institutional discipline, political maturity and credible enforcement mechanisms rather than the assumption that technology alone can guarantee credible elections.
It stated that the frequent rewriting of electoral laws ahead of almost every general election cycle calls for serious scrutiny, noting that credible elections are not achieved simply by legislative tinkering.
The Senior Special Assistant to the President on media and publicity, Temitope Ajayi, stated this on Saturday while reacting to criticism of the Senate’s decision on the electronic transmission of election results ahead of the 2027 poll.
According to him, while continuous improvement is often cited as justification for repeated amendments, global democratic experience shows that stable democracies do not rewrite their electoral laws before every election.
“It cannot be the case that credible elections are only possible if electoral laws are amended every four years.
“Countries such as the United States, the United Kingdom, Germany, France, South Africa, Ghana and the Benin Republic conduct regular elections without constant changes to their electoral frameworks. Their systems improve because institutions mature, enforcement is strengthened, and political actors internalise democratic norms.”
He noted that growing calls for compulsory electronic transmission of results, describing the idea as desirable but warning against what it termed “over-optimistic assumptions” that merely writing the provision into law would automatically resolve Nigeria’s electoral challenges.
“Laws do not conduct elections; people do. Nigeria’s electoral problems are less about the absence of laws and more about the conduct, discipline and behaviour of political actors.”
The president’s aide noted that the fixation on legal amendments often diverts attention from deeper issues of democratic restraint, adding that political actors and sections of civil society have become overly dependent on reform buzzwords that give the impression of progress without addressing underlying problems.
Reflecting on the controversy surrounding the 2023 presidential election, Ajayi noted that despite allegations of manipulation linked to the electronic transmission of results, no credible alternative results have been presented years after the election.
“Voting remains manual. Ballots are counted manually, and results are written manually at polling units after BVAS accreditation. Party agents sign these results and keep copies.
“Whether transmission is instantaneous or delayed does not change what was recorded at the polling unit.”
The Presidency emphasised that technology can enhance transparency but cannot manufacture outcomes, adding that the most impactful electoral reforms since 1958 have been the introduction of the Permanent Voter’s Card and the Bimodal Voter Accreditation System (BVAS), which have significantly reduced ballot stuffing and election-day manipulation.
“No polling unit can now return results that exceed the number of accredited voters captured on BVAS. That is real reform”.
While not ruling out the inclusion of compulsory real-time electronic transmission of results in future electoral amendments, he said such a move should be undertaken without illusions.
“Those determined to reject defeat will always find something else to blame. If not electronic transmission today, it will be something else tomorrow,” Ajayi added.
The President’s aide stressed that Nigeria does not suffer from a shortage of electoral laws but from a deficit of democratic restraint, institutional discipline and political maturity, warning that without addressing these fundamentals, further amendments to the law will not deliver the credible elections Nigerians desire.
