- The Senate says Nigeria is not ready for e-voting as they clarify that IReV is for publishing manually declared results, not real-time voting
- The lawmakers emphasised that INEC currently lacks the infrastructure and technical capacity to conduct full e-voting
- Senator Adeniyi Adegbonmire stated that true real-time transmission can only occur under a full e-voting system, which Nigeria has not yet adopted
The Senate on Thursday, February 12, maintained that the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) currently lacks the capacity to conduct electronic voting, stressing that the electronic transmission of results should not be confused with the introduction of an e-voting system.
Chairman of the Senate Ad-hoc Committee reviewing the 2026 Electoral Bill, Senator Adeniyi Adegbonmire, made the clarification during an interview on Arise News.
His remarks come amid ongoing debate over the National Assembly’s handling of provisions concerning result transmission and the use of the INEC Result Viewing Portal (IReV).
The upper chamber emphasised that IReV “is not an e-voting platform, but a platform where the election results that have been manually counted and declared at the polling units are uploaded and publicised.”
The Senate had earlier constituted a seven-member ad-hoc panel to review the report of its Committee on Electoral Matters, harmonise differing positions and address grey areas identified during deliberations on the Electoral Act (Repeal and Re-enactment) Amendment Bill, 2026. Adegbonmire was appointed to head the panel.
Addressing concerns over the Senate’s position, Adegbonmire insisted that Nigeria has not moved to an electronic voting regime.
He said, “People need to understand what real-time means. Real-time transmission can only happen if the INEC adopts an e-voting system. 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.”
The senator described the controversy surrounding the issue as a product of misinformation.
“This is the misconception that the media has brought into play. The provision you keep emphasising says the presiding officer will first fill in the result manually in Form EC8A. It is the form that has been filled out manually and will be transmitted to IReV. If we change ‘transmit’ to ‘upload’ in the Electoral Bill, 2026, will it change anything? The answer is No.”
Adegbonmire, a Senior Advocate of Nigeria and Chairman of the Senate Committee on Judiciary, Human Rights and Legal Matters, stressed the need to correct misconceptions about IReV, noting their potential implications for national stability.
According to him, IReV “is not a voting platform. Rather, it is a platform meant to publicise election results already declared by the presiding officers at polling units across the federation.
He said, “It is important, first of all, to understand what IReV does because there is a lot of misconception about it or deliberate misrepresentation of what it stands for. The Senate never said INEC should not use IReV for the 2027 elections. So, what is IReV? It is software developed by INEC to publicise the results by INEC.
“IReV is not an e-voting platform as some people think. This is the misinformation some people are peddling. They keep saying when I want to see my vote. But in reality, IReV is a platform meant to publicise election results already declared at the polling units.
“This is not an emotional argument. I heard people say the version of the House of Representatives should be adopted. It is a sheer misconception. What does the version say? It simply says the presiding officer shall electronically transmit the result from each polling unit to the IReV portal in real time, and such transmission shall be done after Form EC8A has been signed by the presiding officer and countersigned by the candidate or polling agent at the polling unit.”
He further argued that the National Assembly cannot alter the structure of INEC’s software through legislation.
“IReV, as an electronic platform to display election results, had a pattern of working, and the National Assembly cannot change the software by mere legislation. It was a sheer misconception to conclude that the Senate declined the use of IReV for the transmission of election results.
“Whether we call it upload, transfer, or transmission, as far as it says IReV must be used, it will be used in the manner it was configured. That is the point I am making. You must first manually write out the figure. After you have written out the figure at the polling unit, you can upload, transfer or transmit depending on the nomenclature we want to use.
“When you have not complied with the proper filing of Form EC8A, you cannot transfer, transmit or upload it. That is what people must understand. When you talk about transmission, it has nothing to do with the sanctity of the voting process. If you are given a ballot paper to thumbprint, it is counted manually after the election. It is not IReV or BVAS that counts ballots. Vote count is manually done.”
Highlighting logistical realities, the Ondo lawmaker explained that conducting simultaneous nationwide uploads is impractical due to variations in terrain and timing across the country.
Adegbonmire illustrated the challenges of conducting elections nationwide, noting that electoral materials are often moved days in advance and transported to hard-to-reach areas, including riverine communities requiring hours of travel.
“In my own case, for instance, I come from Akure. I vote in Akure. All the electoral materials are brought into Akure two to three days before the election. They are kept in the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN). The night before, they start transporting them to different locations across the state.
“In Ondo State, there are places where one has to travel for eight hours to get there. In some cases, they have to use boats to get to the riverine areas. This means voting cannot start at the same time nationwide. In Akure, voting can start at 10:00 a.m.
“In other parts of the state, voting may not start until 2:00 p.m., or even some at 4:00 p.m. in some cases. Most likely, they will finish the vote count by 10:00 p.m,” he stated.
He noted that such disparities must be factored into electoral reforms, reiterating that IReV cannot show how individuals voted because it is not an e-voting platform.
The senator also explained that the Senate sought to avoid rigid timelines that could create suspicion if uploads are delayed due to network or logistical issues.
He said, “In Akure, for instance, the presiding officers will upload election results at polling units at 4:00 p.m. because voting is concluded as scheduled. In Arugbo Ijaw, however, voting kicks off at 4:00 p.m. This is the reality in the country, and we must take it into consideration in our reforms. The truth of the matter is that you are not going to see how you voted on the IReV because it is not an e-voting platform.
“What the Senate has done is that we do not want a situation in which somebody will come and say this man ought to have uploaded this result at 2:00 p.m. You and I know that it is not every time you put something on the Internet that will go through freely. If we are not careful, the smallest thing will spark an issue.
“If somebody said the election result was declared at 2:00 p.m, how did you put it on IReV at 7:00 p.m.? They will simply assume that the election results must have been rigged. The media need to be careful how they report all these issues.”
The clarification comes two days after the Senate, following strong public reactions, approved the electronic transmission of election results to IReV, while allowing manual collation as a backup in the event of technological challenges.