Former Vice President Atiku Abubakar has rejected the amended Electoral Act, allowing both real-time electronic and manual transmission of election results, arguing that the move will create further chaos.

After initially removing the clause mandating the live transmission of election results, the Senate, on Tuesday, backtracked and amended the Electoral Act, making it compulsory for presiding officers at each polling unit to electronically upload election results to the IREV portal in real time.

However, the new amendment allows the use of manual result sheets (Form EC8A) for election results collation in cases where electronic transmission fails due to network communication issues, a decision that has become the subject of debate among the public.

Mr Abubakar, while addressing journalists following a closed-door meeting with former Nigerian military ruler Ibrahim Babangida in Minna, Niger State, on Tuesday, maintained that Nigerians were expecting outright real-time electronic transmission.

“Nigerians were expecting real-time electronic transfer at the various levels of elections, but what we got is a mixture of electronic and manual transmission, which is going to cause more confusion and chaos than if we had a single-tier transmission system,” Mr Abubakar said.

Speaking further, the former Peoples Democratic Party’s presidential candidate recommended that every opposition party must come together to pursue the case, adding that electronic transmission of results alone is better for Nigeria.

“I think there is a need for all the opposition parties to come together to pursue this issue. We shouldn’t allow it to rest where they wanted it to rest today. I don’t support that,” the politician stated.