African Democratic Congress (ADC), on Thursday, said by signing the controversial electoral act amendment bill into law, President Bola Tinubu had just signed the death warrant of credible elections in the country.
ADC said the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) had drawn the battle line between it and Nigerians, and vowed to mobilise citizens to frustrate rigging by any means necessary.
The opposition coalition stated that Tinubu’s hasty assent to the controversial electoral act amendment had corrupted Nigeria’s democracy.
In a statement by its National Publicity Secretary, Mallam Bolaji Abdullahi, ADC questioned the undue haste with which the president signed the bill into law, even in the face of widespread objections by citizens across the country.
The opposition coalition declared that the hasty assent was part of the ruling party’s elaborate schemes to rig the 2027 elections.
The statement said, “With the alarmingly speedy assent to the Electoral Act Amendment Bill, Tinubu has signed the death warrant on credible elections and by so doing set Nigeria’s democracy back by several decades.
‘’At a time when Nigerians across generations and political affiliations are calling for stronger accountability and the full modernisation of our electoral system, it is sad to see a president, who likes to boast of his pro-democracy credentials, hurriedly approving amendments that not only fail to improve citizens’ confidence in the electoral process.
‘’In signing the bill into law, the president claimed to be consolidating the country’s democracy, but in reality, he has simply corrupted it further by introducing ambiguity and permitting excessive discretion in the collation and transmission process.’’
Abdullahi said it was quite instructive that despite claiming to control more than 30 state governments, and commanding a majority in both chambers of the National Assembly, a government that wrongly boast-ed about being so politically dominant would rush changes to the electoral framework to hinder transparent polls.
It said the extraordinary haste with which the amendment was passed and signed confirmed widespread suspicion that the government harboured deep-seethed doubts about submitting itself to a truly transparent and competitive process.
ADC said, ‘’By refusing to slow down, listen, and meaningfully engage the concerns of Nigerians, President Tinubu and the APC-led National Assembly have shown that they are afraid of what the Nigerian people will do to them in a free and fair election, and they have reacted by demonstrating outright disregard for the very citizens whose mandate sustains their democratic authority.”
The statement said, ‘’The African Democratic Congress (ADC) is also deeply concerned about what this amendment portends for Nigeria’s forthcoming elections.
“In the absence of firm guarantees of electronic transparency, vigilant citizens may feel compelled to physically safeguard their votes to prevent discrepancies between polling units and collation centres, as has been witnessed in the past.
“No government that is confident in its democratic mandate and cares about its citizens should place its people in a position that risks heightening tension during elections.”
ADC declared, ‘’As a duly constituted political party in the Federal Republic of Nigeria, with the actions taken by President Bola Tinubu on Wednesday, 18th February, moving forward, the ADC affirms in the strongest and clearest possible terms that we are ready, willing, and prepared to defend the sanctity of Nigeria’s democracy using every constitutional and lawful means available to us.
‘’We will mobilise Nigerians toward vigilance, toward lawful participation, and toward unity in defence of their constitutional rights. We stand firm in the belief that the will of the people must prevail and that no law, however hastily enacted, can extinguish the democratic aspirations of a free nation.”
Kwankwasiyya Movement Concerned About Tinubu’s ‘Hurried’ Assent to Electoral Act
The Kwankwasiyya Movement has expressed serious concern over the recent passage and accelerated presidential assent to the controversial amendments to the 2022 Electoral Act, despite widespread public protests.
The movement stated that the assent was in spite of consistent civil society advocacy, expert warnings, and clear public sentiment in favour of stronger electoral safeguards. It stressed that the development laid bare the dangers of unchecked one-party dominance.
The Kwankwasiyya Movement, in a statement by its spokesperson, Habibu Sale Mohammed, stated that it was now evident that APC exercised an overwhelming influence across the executive and the National Assembly, a dominance significantly strengthened by defections from elected officials, who secured their mandates on the platforms of other political parties.
It stated that the sequence of events reinforced the perception that the growing numerical dominance in the legislature was translating into diminished accountability, adding that the defections are not merely political movements; but raised serious moral and constitutional concerns.
The statement stressed that Nigeria’s democracy belonged to its people, and must not be weakened by convenience, nor compromised by concentration of power.
The Kwankwasiyya Movement stated, “When elected representatives abandon the political platforms upon which they were entrusted with the people’s mandate without clear ideological justification or constituency consultation, it amounts to a distortion of democratic representation. The mandate belongs to the electorate, not to the personal convenience of officeholders.
“Nigeria’s democracy was designed to function on the principles of checks and balances. A vibrant opposition, legislative independence, and responsiveness to public opinion are foundational pillars of constitutional governance.
“When defections systematically weaken opposition ranks, legislative scrutiny diminishes, and executive proposals face reduced resistance regardless of public sentiment.”
Opposition, CSOs in Shock
Stakeholders expressed shock and alleged betrayal as Tinubu assented to the controversial electoral bill.
Conference of Nigeria Political Parties (CNPP) had earlier called on Tinubu to withhold assent to the Electoral Act 2026 (Amendment) Bill, citing what it described as dangerous ambiguities capable of undermining electoral transparency ahead of the 2027 general election.
In a statement, after consultations with political stakeholders, civil society organisations, election observers, and constitutional experts, CNPP expressed deep concern over a controversial provision in the amendment that allowed Presiding Officers to rely on Form EC8A for result collation in cases of alleged network failure preventing electronic transmission.
The coalition, in the statement signed by its Deputy National Publicity Secretary, James Ezema, said while technological limitations might exist in remote areas, the amendment failed to establish a clear, transparent, and verifiable framework for determining when network failure had genuinely occurred.
According to CNPP, the bill did not provide any independent or technological verification procedure to confirm network availability or outage at polling units.
The group warned that leaving the determination of network failure solely at the discretion of polling officials created a loophole that could be exploited for electoral manipulation.
“In modern electoral governance, transparency must be anchored on measurable, auditable and tamper-proof procedures,” the statement said, adding that the amendment weakens safeguards introduced through recent electoral reforms.
CSOs: 2026 Electoral Act Undermines Integrity, Offers Incumbency Advantages
A coalition of Civil Society Organisations (CSOs) said Electoral Act 2026 contained significant flaws that would undermine electoral integrity, entrench incumbency advantage, and exclude millions of Nigerians from meaningful political participation.
It said the act was incomplete and left dangerous loopholes open, while erecting new barriers to participation.
The CSOs, which included Centre for Media and Society (CEMESO), The Kukah Centre, International Press Centre (IPC), ElectHer, Nigerian Women Trust Fund, The Albino Foundation (TAF) Africa, and Yiaga Africa, expressed their dissatisfaction while addressing a press conference in Abuja.
Speaking on behalf of the CSOs, Founder of TAF Africa, Mr. Jake Epelle, they acknowledged the passage of the Electoral Bill 2026 by the National Assembly and the presidential assent to the bill, which formally repealed and replaced the Electoral Act 2022.
Epelle stated that the CSOs could not ignore the deeply troubling manner in which the legislation was processed and passed.
He stressed that the speed and opacity raised serious concerns about legislative transparency and the commitment of lawmakers to genuine electoral reform.
Epelle stated, “We must, therefore, state clearly and without equivocation: the Electoral Act 2026 that has now been signed into law is a missed opportunity for the transformative electoral reform that Nigeria requires and that Nigerian citizens deserve.”
Chuks Okocha and Adedayo Akinwale
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