• Say it’s APC’s plot to rig general election

From Ndubuisi Orji,Abuja

Acoalition of opposition political parties, including the African Democratic Congress (ADC) and the New Nigeria People Party (NNPP), has rejected the new electoral act, saying it is capable of undermining democracy in the country.

The parties noted that the loopholes that could be exploited were inserted into the electoral law, because of the alleged fear of the ruling party of free and fair election.

The opposition parties, made this position known at a press briefing attended by former Vice President Atiku Abubakar; former Labour Party (LP) presidential candidate, Peter Obi; former Minister of Transportation, Rotimi Amaechi; ADC national chairman, David Mark and Buba Galadima, among others.

They picked holes with Section 60(3) and Section 84 of the Electoral Act, saying the sections gave a proviso for electronic transmission of results and prescribed direct primary and consensus for nomination of candidates, respectively; a development they insisted was part of the plots by the All Progressives Congress (APC) to rig the 2027 general election.

They noted that beside the briefing, they would take other collective measures to save the country from the political crisis that may follow if the will of the people are subverted again.

The National Assembly had rejected mandatory transmission of election results, in the new electoral law and restricted political parties to direct primary and consensus for the nomination of candidates.

Despite protestations by the opposition political parties and the civil society organisations, President Tinubu signed the new electoral law within 24 hours, after it was passed by the parliament.

The opposition parties, in a text read by the NNPP national chairman, Ajuji Ahmed, stated that the new Electoral Act is undemocratic, noting that its implementation would undermine electoral transparency and participatory democracy.

He said: “We gather here as leaders of Nigeria’s major opposition political parties with a shared aspiration to save our democracy, and indeed, our nation from impending failure and collapse. “We have met and decided to collectively articulate our position against the offensive and anti-democratic Electoral Act, 2026 recently passed by the All Progressives Congress (APC)-led National Assembly and hurriedly assented to by President Bola Tinubu, as well as other related matters that equally portend danger to our democracy.

“We all saw as Nigerians across various divides expressed their discontent with the anti-democratic provisions of the Electoral Act, 2026, at the various public hearings and protests at the National Assembly grounds. But, we also saw how the peaceful citizens were met with violent repression and disdain by a government that has effectively become deaf, desperate and dictatorial.

“We consider several provisions of the Electoral Act 2026 signed into law with such contemptuous haste by President Tinubu as a major offensive by the APC administration to subvert the will of the people in the 2027 general elections.”

He added that, “We, therefore, state unequivocally that the new Electoral Act is anti-democratic and its implementation will undermine electoral transparency and sanctity of the ballot, which are fundamental to free, fair and credible elections and the bedrock of participatory democracy.

“This obnoxious Electoral Act, 2026, is without doubt, enacted to undermine democracy in Nigeria and it is part of the on-going design by the Tinubu-led APC to disorganise and weaken opposition, corrupt the electoral system, compromise democratic institutions and foist a totalitarian one-party rule on Nigeria. Therefore, we, as patriotic leaders, standing shoulder to shoulder with Nigerians, reject the new Electoral Act.” The parties noted that the proviso in Section 60(3), which gives discretionary powers to the presiding officer, negates the purpose of introducing electronic transmission of election results from polling units.

“This negation is unambiguously intended to provide a blank check to those who seek to manipulate election results by delaying the electronic transmission of results from the polling units to the IREV on the pretext of network failure.

“The premise of the proviso in Section 60(3) is the unavailability or possibility of network failure. We find this premise dubious and inconsistent with reality. The immediate past INEC Chairman, Prof. Mahmud Yakubu, stated on record that the BVAS equipment, which operates offline, had worked with over 90 percent success rate across the nation, and in the event of network failure at the point of transmission, the transmitted results would be delivered successfully whenever network is available.

“This position has been further confirmed most recently by the former INEC Commissioner, Festus Okoye, as widely reported, that every polling unit in Nigeria has internet access,” they stated.

Also, the opposition parties added that, “the amendment to Section 84 of the Act, limiting political parties to direct primaries and consensus for the purpose of selection of candidates is clearly an overreach on the constitutionally guaranteed autonomy of political parties in the exercise of their internal affairs.

“The National Assembly cannot hide under the provision of Section 228(b) of the Constitution to restrict political parties to only two methods of nomination. There is nothing undemocratic about indirect primaries, which create an electoral college for the selection of candidates in an objective, transparent and orderly manner. “As a matter of fact, recent experience has shown that indirect primaries have been the most democratic of the trio provided in all the past Electoral Acts. We recall many situations where during direct primaries, the winning candidates were allocated votes that eventually exceeded the total number of votes cast in the subsequent general elections, clearly showing the unreliability of direct primaries.

“Our position, therefore, is that as political parties, we do not need legislation that prescribes what mode of party primaries political parties must adopt. In other words, the mode of nominating candidates should be strictly the internal affairs of political parties.

“There can only be one reason for this particular amendment: to create chaos and disorder in the ranks of opposition political parties in the hope that they would not be able to present a candidate and President Tinubu would be the only serious candidate in the 2027 presidential election.

“What they are working towards is the coronation of Tinubu in 2027. Therefore, we find this amendment in bad faith and we reject it outrightly. In the coming days, we shall explore every constitutional means to cure this indirect hijack of the independence of political parties.”

Consequently, the parties stated that the parliament has failed to protect the interest of the people in the electoral act and implored the National Assembly to revisit the law to reflect the will of the people.

According to them, “it is obvious that the objective of the APC government and their accomplices in the legislature is to provide the legal pretext for the corruption of the electoral system. They harbour neither plans nor intentions to conduct free and fair elections in 2027 because even in their arrogance and self-delusion, they are acutely aware of their growing unpopularity across the length and breadth of Nigeria even with the recent gale of coerced and procured defections to their party.

“We demand that the National Assembly immediately commence a fresh amendment to the Electoral Act 2026, to remove all obnoxious provisions and ensure that the Act reflects only the will and aspiration of Nigerians for free, fair, transparent and credible electoral process in our country. Nothing short of this will be acceptable to Nigerians.”

Also, they described the outcome of last weekend’s Federal Capital Territory (FCT) Area Council election as a test-run of the APC’s alleged rigging plot for the 2027 polls.

According to them, the low turnout of voters in the FCT poll is a vote of no confidence in the country’s electoral system, because Nigerians believe that their votes do not count.

“The issue of voter apathy speaks directly to the question of legitimacy and credibility. While our elections are determined by simple majority, to what extent can a government whose mandate derives from a tiny fraction of the electorates, claim to truly reflect the choice of the people?

“We believe that the only solution to voter apathy is to convince the people once again that their votes will not be stolen and elections would not be manipulated. But more importantly, for the government to truly commit to improving the lives of citizens so people can believe that democracy comes with real benefits.

The opposition parties posited that the low turnout of voters in the FCT poll, is a vote of no confidence in the country’s electoral system, because Nigerians believe that their votes do not count.

The opposition parties decried the recent assault on ADC leaders in Edo State and other attacks, noting that the incident highlights the growing acts of political violence and intolerance in our country in recent times.

They cautioned the judiciary against being complicit in the undermining of democracy in the country, stating that there cannot be a real democracy without an independent and impartial judiciary.

“The final arbiter in any democracy is the judiciary. It is, therefore, impossible to have real democracy without an independent and impartial judiciary. Unfortunately, we have witnessed in recent years how the very institution that is meant to protect democracy has been weaponized against democracy itself.

“We, therefore, wish to remind the judiciary that partisan politics is for the executive and the legislature, not the judiciary. The judiciary must stop being complicit in undermining our democracy. What we have witnessed in recent times represent strong evidence that our judiciary is in dire need of reform and the temple of justice is in need of deep cleansing,” they stated.