Former INEC Commissioner Igini Warns Lawmakers: Mandatory E-Transmission Key to Political Survival in 2027
A former Resident Electoral Commissioner of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), Mike Igini, has warned that many members of Nigeria’s National Assembly risk losing their seats in the 2027 general elections if lawmakers fail to make real-time electronic transmission of election results mandatory in the Electoral Act.
Igini issued the warning in a statement titled “Proviso to Real-Time E-Transmission of Polling Unit Results: Why a Majority of Legislators May Not Return in 2027,” where he called on federal lawmakers to strengthen electoral reforms and eliminate ambiguities that could undermine the integrity of future elections.
He urged members of the National Assembly to reflect on past electoral cycles, arguing that structural weaknesses in Nigeria’s electoral laws had historically worked against incumbents. According to him, previous assemblies failed to close loopholes that allowed manipulation of polling unit results during collation processes, ultimately contributing to the defeat of many legislators.
“As the National Assembly reconciles divergent versions of the Electoral Act Amendment Bill, particularly regarding the demand for mandatory electronic transmission of results directly from polling units to the INEC Result Viewing Portal (IReV), lawmakers must learn from the misfortunes of their predecessors,” Igini stated.
He explained that earlier legislative bodies often ignored vulnerabilities in electoral laws due to party loyalty or political convenience. These unresolved weaknesses, he said, were later exploited by political actors to influence election outcomes, sometimes against the same lawmakers who failed to address them.
Igini noted that several legislators who lost party nominations but contested under alternative platforms struggled to defend their mandates despite enjoying strong grassroots support. According to him, manipulation during result collation stages often nullified genuine polling unit victories.
“A majority of incumbent legislators denied re-nomination tickets by party governors and leaders were defeated through manipulation of polling unit results during collation processes, despite winning at the polling units,” he said.
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He warned that the current 10th National Assembly could face similar consequences if lawmakers fail to enshrine clear and mandatory provisions for electronic transmission of results. Legislators who fall out of favour with party leaders or governors, he argued, may find it difficult to translate constituency support into electoral victory if result transmission remains vulnerable to interference.
“The 10th Assembly now stands perilously close to replicating this pattern. Members not favoured by state governors or party leaders may be denied tickets and, without secure electronic transmission of polling unit results, may struggle to convert grassroots support into victory,” Igini added.
The former electoral commissioner emphasized that public demand for real-time electronic transmission stems from a desire to prevent post-election alterations of results at ward and local government collation centres. According to him, making results publicly viewable on digital platforms would serve as a strong deterrent against manipulation.
“Nigerians have insistently demanded real-time electronic transmission precisely to forestall post-polling alterations. Publicly viewable results make any tampering obvious and actionable,” he said.
Igini also highlighted the high turnover rate in Nigeria’s legislature, noting that between 60 and 70 percent of lawmakers typically fail to secure re-election. He argued that such instability weakens governance by disrupting continuity, increasing training costs for new legislators, and reducing institutional memory within the National Assembly.
Addressing concerns about network limitations across the country, Igini dismissed them as largely exaggerated. He cited surveys conducted by INEC and the Nigerian Communications Commission before 2022, which indicated that more than 97 percent of Nigeria had 2G and 3G network coverage.
“Network concerns are largely excuses and completely specious,” he said, warning that allowing qualifying clauses in the law could create opportunities for deliberate network failures engineered to manipulate results.
He urged lawmakers to remove any provisions that could weaken electronic transmission safeguards and instead adopt clear and enforceable rules to ensure credible elections. According to him, mandatory real-time transmission of results is essential not only for democratic credibility but also for lawmakers’ own political survival.
Debate over electronic transmission remains central to ongoing discussions on amendments to the Electoral Act ahead of the 2027 general elections. While the Senate has approved electronic transmission to INEC’s viewing portal, it has stopped short of making the process compulsory and retained manual collation as a backup where technology fails.
Igini maintained that without firm legal backing for mandatory real-time transmission, the same electoral vulnerabilities that affected past assemblies could once again determine the political fate of many lawmakers in 2027.