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E-transmission: Presiding Officers have no discretional power when there's law in place - Sambo

Thompson Nsisongabasi

Feb 11, 2026

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Amid the ongoing debate on the Electoral Act, Director of News and Politics Editor of Arise Television, Sumner Sambo, says the constitution does not give Presiding Officers discretional power.

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Sambo said this on Wednesday on Arise Television's 'Morning Show'.

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He stressed the need for external vigilance on the issue of real-time electronic transmission of results.

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According to him, what was achieved on Tuesday at the Senate hearing is 50 percent of what the protesters and Nigerians asked for.

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He added that what the Senate passed is a half-measure and questioned the intention of the senators as to what they want to achieve with the specific amendment.

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"There's a need for eternal vigilance on this issue because what was achieved was more like 50% of what the protesters have been asking and other Nigerians, I mean, not just the protesters, from what the Senate has passed, it's more of like half measure.

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"And then it actually calls to question the intention of senators as to what exactly they want with this specific amendment because you see that from what they have done, they've passed a whole lot of power to presiding officers.

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"And I don't think it's the intention of the Constitution or even pass laws for presiding officers to be as powerful as to be taking discretionary positions when you should actually have laws in place.

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"So from what we have seen here, the presiding officers are being asked to decide to go with the electronic transmission or decide to go with the form EC8A, which is the manual collation in the event that there's a network issue.

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"And that's why I want Nigerians to actually pay attention to the version passed by the House of Representatives," he said.

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— Thompson Nsisongabasi

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