Alleged Alteration Of Electoral Act: Reps Minority Members Stage Walkout

By Ayodele Oni 

Following an alleged alteration of the Electoral Act (Amendment) Bill, 2025, Minority members of the House of Representatives on Tuesday staged a walkout during the Committee of the Whole house to consider of the bill.

Speaking on behalf of the caucus, the Minority Leader, Rep Kingsley Chinda, explained that the caucus discovered changes in the version presented for clause-by-clause consideration, including provisions recognising three forms of party primaries.

Chinda disclosed that the minority immediately convened an emergency meeting to review the amendments, particularly Section 60, which deals with the electronic transmission of election results.

According to him, “Our position is that election results should be transmitted electronically without any proviso,” he said, stressing that the caucus opposed any clause capable of creating room for manipulation or undermining the integrity of the electoral process.

The minority also proposed that in cases of conflict between the manual result sheet (EC8A) and electronically transmitted results, the electronically transmitted results should take precedence.

According to Chinda, the proposals were rejected by the majority for what he termed political reasons, rather than technical or legal considerations.

He further addressed Section 84 of the Act relating to primary elections, insisting that political parties must retain the autonomy to determine their preferred mode of candidate selection.

“The method of selecting candidates is an internal party affair. It is not for the law to impose a particular option on political parties,” he said.

Chinda explained that the walkout was a deliberate protest against provisions the minority believed could weaken transparency, internal party democracy, and public confidence in the electoral system.