A coalition of civil society organisations (CSOs), has expressed serious concern and disappointment with the hasty signing of the 2026 Electoral Act by President Bola Ahmed Tinubu.
The coalition noted that the 2026 Electoral Law contained significant flaws that would undermine electoral integrity, entrench incumbency advantage and exclude millions of Nigerians from meaningful political participation.
It also stressed that Electoral reform should be guided by broad consultation and consensus as against compressed timelines and executive finality.
Members of the coalition specifically said that Wednesday, February 18, 2026, was the darkest day for Nigeria’s democracy as the 2026 Electoral Act was simply a missed opportunity for the transformative electoral reform that Nigeria requires and deserves.
The coalition of the CSOs that included the YIAGA Africa, Kukah Centre, ElectHer, Nigerian Women Trust Fund, TAF Africa, Centre for Media and Society (CEMESO), and International Press Centre (IPC), noted with sadness that the Electoral Act left dangerous loopholes unaddressed and introduced new barriers to political participation.
The CSOs specifically said that the content of the new electoral law was not what Nigerians demanded and wanted as demonstrated in their public statements and participation in the entire process, as well as was demonstrated in recent peaceful protests.
The CSOs at a joint press conference in Abuja, on Thursday, led by comrade Jake Epelle, Chief Executive Officer of TAF Africa, expressed deep concerns over the development regarding the 2026 Electoral Law vis-a-viz the outcome of the 2027 elections.
They particularly expressed serious disappointment over the signing of the Electoral Bill by Tinubu, stressing that millions of Nigerians and other individuals who participated and worked tirelessly to ensure an electoral law that would herald improved electoral process had their desires for a better and credible elections dashed.
The coalition noted that the new electoral law completely failed in the areas of real-time electronic transmission of election results, compressed timelines for key electoral activities, restricting the filing of reports to INEC officials to activate the review of election results, a N50 million administrative fee (non-refundable) for new political party registration and mode of party primaries which restrict parties to only two options for candidate nomination, Direct Primaries or Consensus.
According to Epelle; “At a time when public confidence in elections remains fragile, this electoral law should have decisively strengthened transparency, eliminated ambiguities and deepened safeguards against manipulation.
“Instead, it created more vulnerabilities in the electoral process. Throughout the legislative process, we engaged constructively with the National Assembly, submitted detailed citizens’ memoranda, participated in public hearings and engaged publicly and privately for specific amendments that would have strengthened the integrity, inclusiveness and accountability of Nigeria’s electoral framework,” he stressed.
The CSOs also faulted President Tinubu’s hasty assent to the bill without attending to the concerns and reactions of Nigerians, saying; “The decision of the Presidency to grant assent without addressing the substantive legal, technical and democratic concerns raised by civil society, professional bodies and even some members of the National Assembly, signalled a troubling prioritisation of political expediency over electoral integrity”.
According to the CSOs; “This sets a dangerous precedent that foundational democratic laws may be enacted despite credible warnings from stakeholders charged with safeguarding electoral transparency.
“Such an approach risks eroding public trust at a time when confidence in the electoral system remains fragile and must be deliberately strengthened, not casually tested,” he stated.
Epelle further said; “Civil society raised each of these issues with evidence-based recommendations during the legislative process. The failure to address them represents a failure of political will”.
The CSOs however commended the Sections 62, 71 which prescribed enhanced penalties for result falsification, adding that the Section prescribed that Returning Officers who deliberately falsify results, would face a mandatory minimum of 10 years’ imprisonment without option of fine.
It further said; “Similarly, Presiding Officers who fail to sign result sheets may also face mandatory three-year imprisonment. These are among the strongest anti-fraud sanctions in Nigeria’s legislative history and represent a commitment to accountability that we strongly support,” he noted.
In his own remarks; the Executive Director, Yiaga Africa, Mr. Samson Itodo, queried the speed with which the document was signed by President Tinubu despite the sustained concerns raised by Nigerians.
Itodo noted that Electoral Law remains the architecture of democratic competition, saying that its legitimacy depends not only on its content but on the openness and credibility of the process through which it is enacted.
According to him; “When reforms are rushed, consolidated without scrutiny and adopted without full disclosure, public confidence inevitably erodes. This approach does not reflect deliberative lawmaking. It reflects a troubling departure from the transparency and accountability that electoral reform demands.
“In the period between the National Assembly’s passage of the Bill and the granting of Presidential assent, civil society organisations convened multiple protests and public engagements calling for critical safeguards to be preserved, including real-time electronic transmission of results, downloadable voter cards and the retention of established electoral timelines.
“These were not partisan demands; they were grounded in legal precedent, technical feasibility and the imperative to protect electoral credibility ahead of 2027,” he said.
Speaking in turn, the Director of Programmes, Yiaga Africa, Cynthia Mbamalu, expressed disappointment at the development, but urged Nigerians and key stakeholders to “mount a guard” and ensure that no form of malpractices is condoned during the electoral exercise.
In their own reaction, the Conference of Nigeria Political Parties (CNPP) expressed disappointment and concern over the development.
A statement by its Deputy National Publicity Secretary, James Ezema, described the presidential assent as a “missed historic opportunity” to address structural loopholes earlier identified by stakeholders in the version of the amendment passed by the House of Representatives of Nigeria and the Senate of Nigeria.
The CNPP said it had previously raised objections to a controversial provision permitting a Presiding Officer at a polling unit to rely on Form EC8A as the primary source for result collation where electronic transmission of results is deemed impossible due to network failure.
The CNPP said its concern was not about acknowledging technological limitations in remote areas, but about what it described as the absence of a transparent and independently verifiable framework for determining genuine network failure.
“By leaving the determination of network failure substantially at the discretion of individual polling unit officials, the newly signed law creates an exploitable loophole capable of undermining the integrity of the electoral process,” the statement said.
Similarly, the National Publicity Secretary of Arewa Consultative Forum (ACF), Prof. Tukur Muhammad-Baba said it is regrettable that President Tinubu signed the bill into law, saying that it is typical with the regime.
He said; “Almost the same thing happened to the Tax Bills. When provisions that the regime elements wanted did not pass through, they were inserted along the way.
“The brouhaha that followed is still fresh in my memory. What is there to be said, except to regret that such behaviour is what democracy has become,” he stressed.
