Posted by Samuel on Fri 06th Feb, 2026 - tori.ng
Ezekwesili’s comments followed the Senate’s recent decision to vote against a proposed amendment to the Electoral Act (Amendment) Bill that would have made the electronic transmission of election results mandatory.
Former Minister of Education Oby Ezekwesili has accused the Senate and House of Representatives of deliberately sabotaging electoral reforms and betraying public trust over their handling of proposed amendments to the Electoral Act.
Ezekwesili’s comments followed the Senate’s recent decision to vote against a proposed amendment to the Electoral Act (Amendment) Bill that would have made the electronic transmission of election results mandatory.
Ezekwesili, in a memo titled ‘Nigerian Senate, Senators, and the Political Class at Large Know When to Stop Playing with Fire’, shared on 𝕏, asserted that the lawmakers have demonstrated a pattern of conduct that prioritises personal and partisan interests over national development and the will of citizens.
According to the former World Bank Vice President, the refusal to make real-time uploads from polling units mandatory is a calculated move to preserve a discretionary loophole.
Ezekwesili rejected the Senate’s claim that it did not oppose electronic transmission, stressing that the brazen actions were neither an innocent choice nor a technical oversight, nor a neutral legislative compromise of ‘letting sleeping dogs lie’.
She listed several alleged failures of the legislature, including blocking or watering down electoral and anti-corruption reforms, approving inflated legislative budgets while public services deteriorate, and confirming “clearly unfit nominees” for executive positions in exchange for political favours.
The memo read, “Nigerians mostly see the Senate as an ignoble and withering institution that delights in deliberate betrayal of public trust. Our lawmakers at large are well known for consistently prioritizing personal and partisan interests over constituent welfare: blocking or watering down reform legislation (electoral reform, anti-corruption measures, constitutional amendments for devolution of power); their selfish custom of inflated budgetary allocations for the legislature while public services collapse; a pattern of confirming clearly unfit nominees for executive positions in exchange for political favors; and several other perfidious actions at the public expense.
“The Senate voted against a proposed amendment to make electronic transmission of election results mandatory in the Electoral Act (Amendment) Bill and then proceeded to try to deceive Nigerians by claiming that it “did not reject electronic transmission. What the Senate did is worse, and their denial is disingenuous. Let us dispense with euphemisms and doublespeak.
“What the Senators did in that opaque Closed Plenary Session was retain the critical clause- Section 60 of the Electoral Act 2022, specifically subsection (5) with the current wording: “the presiding officer shall transfer the results, including the total number of accredited voters and the results of the ballot, in a manner as prescribed by the Commission.”
“By deliberately retaining the vague language that leaves the method and timing of transmitting election results to the discretion of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), rather than requiring real-time uploads from polling units, the Senate has once again weaponized ambiguity in our electoral law.
“The brazen actions of the Senators were neither an innocent choice nor some sort of technical oversight. It was also not a neutral legislative compromise of “letting sleeping dogs lie,” because there must surely be a few of them who know better, as they are daily in touch with our public reality and the extremely angry mood of the majority of impoverished citizens who are exhausted by corruption and bad governance.
“Calling a spade a spade, as I am wont to do, the Senators took a calculated decision despite their full knowledge of recent history. No reasonable Nigerian is fooled by the shenanigans of the Senate. Every Nigerian who paid attention to the 2023 general elections knows that the exact clause the Senate deliberately reaffirmed is the same discretionary loophole that was at the center of the crisis that terribly eroded public trust and fatally damaged the integrity of our democracy.”