Electoral Act: Abati, Rufai ‘fights’ on live television

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On Thursday, prominent Arise News anchors Reuben Abati and Rufai Oseni had a disagreement regarding the Electoral Amendment Act while on live television.

The two chambers of the National Assembly recently enacted the Electoral Amendment Act, which sanctioned the electronic transmission of election results while keeping manual collation as a fallback option.

Barely 24 hours after the National Assembly passed the Electoral Act, 2022 (Repeal and Re-Enactment) Bill 2026, President Bola Tinubu signed it into law.

The Electoral Act’s passage and signing ignited controversy.

Speaking on live television on Thursday, Rufai said, “They passed the law to make it mandatory for electronic transmission. Once you have two arms that are supposed to be separated and the Senate president is said to be loyal to the President, then it’s a problem for Nigeria because we can’t get effective representation.

“And with due respect, the Senate doesn’t represent us. They’re there to represent the interest of the President, that’s why they are doing everything in the interest of the president. Let’s call a spade a spade.

“This is a democracy for Christ’s sake. It’s not an authoritarian government or a military government.”

Disagreeing, Abati said, “Even in the United States, you go with your party. In the US, which is not a parliamentary system, there is that faithfulness among the party. So you have the opposition, the minority, which can have a say.

“So what do you expect Senate President Akpabio to say? To go against his own party or to go against the president of the ruling party to which he belongs?”

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