Senator Victor Umeh Insists Senate Agreed to Electronic Transmission, Says Law Now Forces Comparison of Results

Senator Victor Umeh has stepped forward to clear the air on the heated controversy surrounding the 2026 Electoral Act Amendment, insisting that the Nigerian Senate has not abandoned the electronic transmission of results.

Following a wave of public backlash and accusations of “transparency sabotage,” Umeh told reporters on Thursday that the Senate’s version of the bill actually strengthens the use of technology, even if it avoids the specific “mandatory” phrasing found in the House of Representatives’ version.

The Senator explained that the real victory lies in the new requirement for compulsory comparison. Under the bill passed by the Senate on Wednesday, collation officers are now legally bound to cross-check physical result sheets against the data uploaded to the IReV portal. Umeh argues that this removes the “loophole of discretion” that allowed INEC to ignore electronic results in previous elections.

“People are focusing on a single word, but they are missing the legal shift,” Umeh stated. “For the first time, we have written into law that if the hardcopy and the electronic version don’t match, there is a clear procedure for audit. We have given legal life to the IReV portal that was previously just an administrative tool.”

Umeh’s defense comes at a critical time. Opposition figures had earlier “slammed” the Senate for retaining a clause that says INEC “may” transmit results electronically. However, Umeh insists that the combination of legalized BVAS and the new audit requirements effectively makes electronic transmission the “standard operating procedure” for the 2027 polls.

The bill is now headed for a “harmonization showdown.” Since the House of Representatives remains firm on making the transmission “mandatory” without exception, a joint committee from both chambers will meet next week to finalize the wording.

For Umeh, the 2026 Electoral Act is a “major win for democracy,” providing a digital paper trail that he believes will finally end the era of result manipulation at the collation centers.