An official of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) has advised the National Assembly to jettison a bill before it that seeks to conduct all elections in Nigeria on a single day.
Speaking anonymously to the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) on Thursday in Abuja, the official warned that the bill, if passed, “might truncate the country’s electoral system.”
NAN reports that there is growing momentum among some groups in Nigeria calling for major electoral reforms, including holding all five major elections—the presidential, senatorial, House of Representatives, governorship, and House of Assembly elections—on one day.
The Patriots, a group of elder statesmen led by former Commonwealth Secretary-General Chief Emeka Anyaoku, recently made this call at their national summit on the future of Nigeria’s constitutional democracy.
The House of Representatives also proposed the reform in the Electoral Act 2025, which has passed second reading. If upheld, the revised act will empower INEC to conduct all elections simultaneously in one day.
Proponents argue that a single-day vote “would be less vulnerable to possible manipulation and vote-buying and streamline the electoral process as well as save time and cost, among other advantages.”
However, the INEC official questioned the proposal’s feasibility: “It’s about the practicality of the concept, the purpose of this latest move and what the whole thing intends to achieve.
“What is wrong with the current method? Will conducting all elections on the same day guarantee credibility? Will it produce a different outcome from what we are having now?
“What is the practicality of it? Did the lawmakers seek INEC’s opinion before embarking on this move?”
The official further emphasized that, since the constitution gives INEC the exclusive power to determine election dates, “the lawmakers should not try to erode the power.”
Explaining why elections are currently held in two phases, the official said: “Even as things stand now, the commission is still finding it challenging to deal with the logistics aspect.
“Remember, for the presidential and national assembly elections, voting takes place simultaneously between 8.30 a.m. and 2.30 p.m. in over 176,000 polling units across 36 states and the Federal Capital Territory. Just imagine, for a moment, what all that entails.
“After that, the process of sorting and counting the ballot papers begins, followed by collation at the ward, local government and state levels.
“After that, returning officers will proceed from each of the states to the National Collation Centre in Abuja to physically present their individual results to the Chief Electoral Commissioner of the Federation, that is, the INEC Chairman.
“He is the only individual empowered by the constitution to announce the result of a presidential election.”
The official warned that adding the burden of other elections to the first phase “might truncate the process”, concluding that “the idea should simply be dropped.”
