Senator Dickson says removing “real-time” does not weaken mandatory electronic transmission of results.

A member of the Senate Committee on Electoral Matters, Senator Seriake Dickson, has defended the Senate’s amendment to the Electoral Act, insisting that deleting the phrase “real time” does not weaken the mandatory electronic transmission of election results.

Speaking on Tuesday during an interview on Arise News, the former Bayelsa State governor dismissed concerns that the alteration of Clause 60(3) of the Electoral Act Amendment Bill could open the door to electoral malpractice.

“I don’t count the proceedings of today and the outcome as a loss for democracy,” Dickson stated.

CBI News reports that the amendment had sparked public backlash after the Senate initially removed the words “real-time” from the clause.

However, Dickson argued that the central objective securing uploads to the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) Result Viewing Portal (IREV) had been preserved.

“INEC compels presiding officers to transmit the result to IREV. That is good enough for us,” he said.

He clarified that electronic transmission from polling units remains mandatory under the revised bill, describing the phrase “real-time” as unnecessary and frequently misunderstood.

“What is the meaning of real time? We are not voting electronically in Nigeria. The word ‘real time’ in this context doesn’t on its own give you a transparent election,” Dickson said.

Following criticism and protests, the Senate revisited the bill and restored electronic transmission.

However, it added a proviso permitting manual collation where network failure occurs a clause Dickson said he personally does not support.

“I don’t agree with the proviso that has been included, but parliament works on the basis of majority.

“You make gains incrementally… We have made electronic transfer mandatory, and that is progress,” he added.

Addressing his absence during the Senate’s earlier vote on the contentious clause, Dickson explained that he had been away due to a personal loss.

“I was not there when the Senate took that decision earlier, about a week ago, as I was bereaved… Today was the very first day I went to sit in the Senate because of the importance of this matter,” he said.

According to him, the move to mandate electronic transmission followed more than two years of consultations, workshops, joint committee sessions, and engagements with INEC.

Despite the emphasis on electronic processes, Dickson reiterated that the physical polling unit result sheet, Form EC8A, remains the primary legal evidence of election outcomes.

“The primary evidence of who won an election is the EC8A,” he said.

Urging Nigerians to view the amendment as part of an evolving reform process, Dickson maintained that the Senate’s action represents forward movement.