The Nigerian Citizens Investigative Platform (NICIP), standing in solidarity with other pro-democracy allies across the 36 states,has warned Nigerians to reject Senate’s Manual Back-up inclusion in the amendment to the Electoral Act 2026.
NICIP said the Senate’s latest “compromise” on the electronic transmission of election results was a strategic ambush on our democracy.
While the Senate claims to have succumbed to public pressure by agreeing to electronic transmission, the inclusion of a manual backup clause in the Electoral Act Amendment Bill 2026 is a poison pill designed to facilitate vote-robbery under the guise of technological failure.
THE “GLITCH” IS A STRATEGY, NOT AN ACCIDENT.
In a statement made available to VDCInsights, Comrade, Ibrahim Garba Wala, Initiator/Founder, Nigerian Citizens Investigative Platform (NICIP) stated “The Handshake Movement.We have seen this script before. In previous elections, “Incident Forms” were introduced as a rare backup for failed card readers, yet they were systematically weaponized to bypass accreditation and inject ghost votes.”
Wada noted “By retaining the manual result sheet as a fallback, the Senate is creating a legal loophole where:”
A. Planned Glitches can be used to justify the refusal to transmit results electronically from unfriendly polling units.
B. Manual Alteration will take place in the “dark rooms” of collation centers, away from the digital trail of the IReV portal.
C. Judicial Confusion will arise, as politicians will argue that manual “hard copies” override the transparent digital truth.
OUR IRREVOCABLE DEMANDS!
The Nigerian people do not want backups, we want Bank-Standard Accountability.
1. Mandatory Digital Primary.
Electronic transmission must be the only legally recognized primary source of results.
2. Infrastructure, Not Excuses.
If the Senate is worried about technological failure, they should mandate INEC to provide redundant network solutions (such as satellite-linked BVAS), not revert to a 20th-century paper system that is prone to forgery.
3. A Kasa, A Raka, A Tsare.
We maintain our civic strategy. We will not only cast and escort our votes; we will reject any result that does not appear on the electronic dashboard in real-time.
CALL TO ACTION
We call on the House of Representatives, who previously supported full e-transmission to reject the Senate’s retrogressive “manual backup clause during the harmonization process.
Wada called everyone to join this resistance “To our Senior Comrades and the SAA Network mobilizers, please remain on high alert. We are transitioning from negotiation to active defense. If the National Assembly refuses to shut the backdoor on rigging, the citizens will shut down the process through legitimate, peaceful, and persistent democratic resistance.”
He concluded” Our votes are like electronic bank alerts, anything less than an instant, digital confirmation is a robbery in progress!”
Comrade, Ibrahim Garba Wala
Initiator/Founder, Nigerian Citizens Investigative Platform (NICIP)
National Lead Advocate, The Handshake Movement.