Former Vice President Atiku Abubakar on Tuesday called on opposition political parties to unite in advocating for transparent and credible elections, emphasizing the urgent need for a fully electronic transmission system to reduce confusion in Nigeria’s electoral process.
At a news conference in Minna, Niger State, following a closed-door meeting with former Military President General Ibrahim Babangida, Atiku stated that the existing mix of electronic and manual transmission may provide issues for voters and electoral officials.
“The expectations of Nigerians, Nigerians who are expecting real-time electronic transfer to the various levels of the elections, but what we got is a mixture of electronic and manual transmission, which is going to cause more confusion or chaos than if we have a single-tier, you know, electoral transmission system, which is real-time electronic.
“That would be our preference. And I think there is a need for all the opposition political parties to come together to pursue this issue,” he said.
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He described the Senate’s recent passage of revised Clause 60(3) of the Electoral Act, which permits electronic transmission of results while retaining manual collation as a backup, as a compromise that falls short of complete openness.
“I mean, we shouldn’t allow it to rest where they wanted it to rest today. Absolutely not. I don’t support that,” he added.
When asked about his presence in Minna and the 2027 presidential election, Atiku elaborated. “Is it the first time that you have seen me here? Certainly not. I have always come here to pay my respects.
“The issue of contesting the 2027 election does not even arise. I am a member of ADC, and we are busy trying to make sure that our structures are firmly rooted, from the ward level, local government level, and state level up to the national level.
“And we are busy mobilizing people and also registering at the same time.”
Atiku also addressed zoning in political parties, pointing out that the African Democratic Congress does not have such a clause. “In fact, the only party that has zoning in its constitution is PDP,” the politician claimed.
The remarks come following the Senate’s special plenary, which examined a contentious item in the Electoral Act Amendment Bill.
The upper chamber allowed the transmission of results to the Independent National Electoral Commission’s Result Viewing Portal; however, manual collation was retained as a backup in cases when technology failed.
The chamber also declined to make electronic transmission mandatory and rejected real-time submission of results.
