Electoral Act 2026 Lagos APC
The Lagos State chapter of the All Progressives Congress has thrown its weight behind President Bola Tinubu following his assent to the Electoral Act 2026 (Amendment), describing critics of the new law as “noisemakers” and accusing the opposition of turning a policy debate into what it called orchestrated outrage.
In a statement issued on Thursday by the party’s Public Relations Officer, Seye Oladejo, the Lagos APC argued that the President’s decision followed constitutional process, legislative debate and institutional consultation, and should not be judged through the lens of social media agitation or partisan sentiment, Electoral Act 2026 Lagos APC.
The party’s position lands in the middle of a national argument over the most sensitive part of the amendment: whether election results should be uploaded in real time through technology or whether manual collation should remain a fallback when technology fails, Electoral Act 2026 Lagos APC.
What Lagos APC said and why it matters
Oladejo’s statement framed the outrage around the Electoral Act 2026 as “orchestrated hysteria,” insisting that governance “transcends emotion,” and warning that democracy thrives on credibility, not noise. 
The Lagos APC also pushed back against what it described as a “romanticised and misleading narrative” that treats real-time transmission as the only sign of credible elections. It cited concerns ranging from infrastructure gaps to cybersecurity and legal complications that could arise when a system fails in some places and works in others. 
This matters because Lagos is Tinubu’s political base, and when Lagos APC speaks this firmly, it is usually signaling how the party intends to defend the law publicly and politically, especially as election preparations for 2027 begin to take shape, Electoral Act 2026 Lagos APC.
What the Electoral Act 2026 amendment actually changed
From the reports around the bill, the core fight is over Clause 60 and how it treats the transmission of results.
Premium Times reported that the controversy centred on a clause that makes electronic transmission optional, which triggered protests and criticisms from many Nigerians and civic groups. 
Punch also reported Tinubu’s explanation after signing: he argued that election credibility depends heavily on management and human oversight, not only on real-time electronic transmission, and raised questions about Nigeria’s broadband capability and risk of glitches or hacking, Electoral Act 2026 Lagos APC.
So, the heart of the issue is not whether technology will be used at all, but whether it will be compulsory in real time everywhere, and what happens when it fails.
https://ogelenews.ng/electoral-act-2026-lagos-apc
The pushback: protests, walkouts, and pressure
The debates around the amendment have been heated, inside and outside the National Assembly, Electoral Act 2026 Lagos APC.
Reuters reported that Nigeria’s Senate reversed an earlier decision under pressure from civil society, labour unions and lawyers, with reform advocates insisting real-time transmission is critical to transparency and reducing disputes. 
The Cable also reported that opposition lawmakers in the House of Representatives staged a walkout over the approval of manual collation as a backup, Electoral Act 2026 Lagos APC.
Lagos APC’s response is basically an answer to that pressure: the party is saying “calm down, this is policy and process, not street drama.”
What Lagos APC is really arguing
If you strip away the political language, Lagos APC is making three key arguments:
1. Process legitimacy: Tinubu’s assent followed constitutional steps and legislative procedure, so critics should not frame it like a unilateral move. 
2. Risk management: a national system must anticipate failure points. If the network fails in parts of the country, the law needs a pathway to finish elections without chaos. 
3. Infrastructure reality: Nigeria has uneven connectivity, and the law should not create a crisis by insisting on a standard the system cannot meet uniformly. 
This is why the Lagos APC statement leans hard on the idea of durability, institutional strength, and avoiding reforms that look good on paper but break in the field, Electoral Act 2026 Lagos APC.
The other side of the argument
Critics of the amendment insist that leaving real-time transmission as optional can reopen the door for manipulation during collation, the exact problem technology was meant to reduce.
That concern is not abstract. Reuters pointed out Nigeria’s elections have long been plagued by allegations of vote-buying, violence and chaotic collation, and that courts increasingly decide contested races, Electoral Act 2026 Lagos APC.
So the opposition argument is simple: if you leave too much discretion in the system, you create uncertainty, and uncertainty is where rigging and litigation grow.
What to watch next
Even after assent, the political heat will likely shift to implementation:
• How INEC interprets the “electronic transmission” provisions in practice
• Whether regulations and guidelines tighten the grey areas critics complain about
• How disputes are handled when electronic upload fails in some polling units
• Whether the law reduces post-election court cases or increases them
And politically, Lagos APC backing Tinubu here is also a message ahead of 2027: the party is preparing to defend its electoral framework aggressively, and it is not going to accept an opposition narrative that paints the amendment as automatic rigging.
https://punchng.com/electoral-act-2026-lagos-apc-backs-tinubu-dismisses-opposition-as-noisemakers
