The Nigerian Senate has amended Clause 28 of the Electoral Act (Repeal and Re-enactment) Bill, 2026, reducing the statutory notice period for general elections from 360 days to 300 days.
The amendment is intended to prevent the 2027 presidential and National Assembly elections from coinciding with the Muslim holy month of Ramadan.
The red chamber rescinded its earlier passage of the bill and recommitted it to the Committee of the Whole after concerns were raised that the 360-day requirement could compel the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) to fix election dates within the Ramadan period.
The motion for rescission was moved by Opeyemi Bamidele, Senate Leader and senator representing Ekiti Central, under Orders 1(b) and 52(6) of the Senate Standing Orders.
“Upon critical review of the passed bill, the 360-day notice requirement prescribed in Clause 28 could result in the scheduling of the 2027 presidential and National Assembly elections during the Ramadan period,” Bamidele said.
Following deliberations, the Senate adopted a revised Clause 28, which stipulates that INEC shall, not later than 300 days before the date appointed for an election, publish a notice in each state of the federation and the Federal Capital Territory, stating the election date and the locations for the submission of nomination papers. The notice must also be published in each constituency where an election is to be held.
Bamidele warned that conducting elections during Ramadan could negatively affect voter turnout, logistics, stakeholder participation, and the overall credibility and inclusiveness of the electoral process.
The amendment followed consultations between the leadership of the National Assembly and INEC, which had earlier fixed February 20, 2027, for the presidential and National Assembly elections, and March 6, 2027, for governorship and state assembly polls.
Chairman of the Senate Committee on Electoral Matters, Simon Lalong, said the INEC chairman, Joash Amupitan, did not deliberately fix the election dates to clash with Ramadan. He noted that the election timetable framework was inherited from the template set by former INEC chairman Mahmood Yakubu, covering election cycles from 2019 to 2031.
The Senate also retained a proviso in Clause 60 permitting the manual transmission of election results in situations where electronic transmission fails due to network challenges.
Senator Enyinnaya Abaribe raised a point of order and called for a division on Clause 60(3), objecting to the retention of manual transmission.
Presiding over the session, Godswill Akpabio, described the vote as “democracy in action” and directed senators to indicate their positions by standing.
At the end of the vote, 55 senators supported retaining the proviso, while 15 voted against it. Akpabio said the decision had “saved Nigeria’s democracy.”
With the outcome, the Senate reaffirmed that while electronic transmission of results remains permissible, the duly signed Form EC8A shall serve as the primary source of results in the event of network failure.
The chamber subsequently passed the Electoral Act (Repeal and Re-enactment) Bill, 2026.