The senate has scheduled an emergency plenary sitting for Tuesday, February 10.
In a notice on Sunday, Emmanuel Odo, clerk of the senate, said the sitting was convened on the directive of Godswill Akpabio, president of the senate.
According to the notice, the emergency session will be held at 12 noon at the senate chamber.
“I am directed by His Excellency, the President of the Senate, Distinguished Senator Godswill Obot Akpabio, GCON, to inform all Distinguished Senators of the Federal Republic of Nigeria that an Emergency Sitting of the Senate has been scheduled…” the notice read.
“All distinguished senators are kindly requested to note this emergency sitting date and attend.”
The emergency sitting comes amid growing pressure on the national assembly to revisit clause 60(3) of the electoral amendment bill, which relates to the electronic transmission of election results.
On Wednesday, the senate retained the provision for the electronic transfer of election results as contained in the electoral act 2022.
During the consideration of the bill, the red chamber also rejected proposals for real-time results transmission and a 10-year ban on vote buyers, opting instead to maintain existing sanctions of fines or jail terms.
However, some members of the upper chamber have clarified that the bill enjoyed the backing of the majority in the senate.
Despite that widespread backing, the senate did not adopt the real-time transmission of election results sought by some advocates; instead, it retained the existing wording from the 2022 electoral act, under which results are to be transferred “in a manner as prescribed by the commission”.
