The Senate has clarified that the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, currently lacks the capacity to conduct electronic voting, emphasizing that the electronic transmission of results should not be equated with the adoption of an e-voting system.
Senator Adeniyi Adegbonmire, Chairman of the Senate Ad-hoc Committee reviewing the 2026 Electoral Bill, made the remarks on Thursday amid controversy surrounding provisions on result transmission and the use of INEC’s Result Viewing Portal, IReV.
The Senate stressed 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 seven-member ad-hoc panel, led by Adegbonmire, was constituted to harmonize divergent views on the Electoral Act (Repeal and Re-enactment) Amendment Bill, 2026, and address grey areas identified during deliberations.
Adegbonmire explained that contrary to some claims, Nigeria has not transitioned to electronic voting.
“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,” he said.
He stressed that the media has fueled misconceptions about IReV, noting that results are first manually recorded in Form EC8A by presiding officers and subsequently uploaded to the portal.
“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,” Adegbonmire said, reiterating that the Senate never opposed its use for the 2027 elections.
The senator further clarified that legislative changes cannot alter the configuration of INEC’s software.
“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. 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.” He emphasized that IReV cannot display individual votes, and vote counting remains entirely manual.
Citing Nigeria’s logistical realities, Adegbonmire highlighted disparities in terrain and timing across the country that prevent simultaneous nationwide uploads.
Electoral materials are often transported days in advance to hard-to-reach areas, including riverine communities requiring hours of travel. Voting schedules vary by location, meaning that results will appear online at different times.
He warned that rigid timelines could fuel suspicion of manipulation if uploads are delayed due to network or logistical challenges.
“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,” he said, urging the media to exercise caution in reporting.
The clarification follows the Senate’s approval of electronic transmission of election results to IReV, while permitting manual collation as a fallback in cases of technological challenges, reinforcing that the system is meant to publicize results, not conduct voting electronically.
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