Reps Minority Leader Raises Alarm Over Threat To 2027 Polls Integrity 

Deputy Minority Leader of the House of Representatives, Hon. Abdussamad Dasuki, has raised the alarm over a provision in the Electoral Act, 2026 that threatened the integrity of the 2027 general election.

Raising a matter of previledge, Dasuki said he and others have submitted motions to the House to look into the issue and the need for the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) to tell the House how prepared it is for next year’s polls but the legislative instruments had not been listed for consideration after several months.

“I am bringing two matters of privileges before the House this morning. One of them is with regards to a motion, Mr. Speaker, that is written by myself and the Whip of this House, which you signed on the 22nd of July, 2026. Mr. Speaker, immediately, you gave us the opportunity to present this motion, where we sent it to the Rules and Business Committee.

“Unfortunately, two days after we shut down the Parliament, a week after, we thought the practises of the House, as the leadership, has an opportunity to present its motions first.

“Secondly, Mr. Speaker, Honourable Colleagues, we already have another bill that the journal is before us, which we believe is our right to bring motions and bills. Mr. Speaker, before me here is a journal on the 10th of June, 2026.

“From that journal, Bill 2780 was taken into consideration on the 21st of July, and the next one is 2781, which is by myself and the minority leaders. Mr. Speaker, today we have 2781. It will be interesting for you and the House to know the motion and the bills have to do with the integrity of the 2026 election.

“Mr. Speaker, the bill specifically, we are looking at what Section 88, Subsection 2 of the Constitution says. If you look at it, that is what we did in that bill.

“Today, as we are talking, the 2026 Electoral Act has some credibility problems, and that is what we wanted to tackle,” he said.

Dasuki said Section 63, Subsection of the Electoral Act gave a polling unit officer or a presiding officer the opportunity to accept any paper that is not having the marks or any security feature of INEC.

“It’s just like you saying, go to the bank, collect money. If you have the fake money inside the bank, for as long as it’s in the bundle, that means it’s accepted,” he said.

According to Dasuki, “with regards to the motion, Mr. Speaker, which you agreed, was with regards to the preparation of INEC. How prepared are they? We agreed in the motion to call INEC Chairman, to come and brief us with regards to the readiness of the 2027 election.

“And that is what is in the bill, and that is what is in the motion. Our fear, Mr. Speaker, is that with regards to funding, INEC, we are praying 30% should not happen to INEC but the chairman should be before us to explain to us whether he is ready for that. In view of the election for the first time, we are having security challenges across the country.

“We don’t want to wait until on the eve of the election before we know what and what INEC is going to do. And we are the only ones as empowered in the constitution to ask the INEC how ready they are. So, Mr. Speaker, in your own wisdom, we are pleading that you do what we expect, which is to get these bills and the motion to be debated before the floor.

“Mr. Speaker, it would interest you to know, today, the next bill is 2792. Ours is 2781. So we have 10 days in between.”

Responding, Speaker Abbas Tajudeen presiding promised to look into the matter of previledge but wondered while the lawmaker did not bring it at a recent leadership meeting but choose the plenary.

“Just a few days ago, we had a leadership meeting, and you had a very good opportunity to bring up this issue. So I don’t know why you have chosen to come and discuss about this matter here.

“I have heard you, and I want to assure you that there is nothing sinister about this. I have heard what you have said. I will look at your issue, and we will try as much as possible within the week to accommodate the motion that you already brought before the parliament in July,” he stated.