…Urges NASS to implement full overhaul before 2027

The former presidential candidate of the Social Democratic Party (SDP), Prince Adewole Adebayo, has launched a blistering critique of Nigeria’s ongoing electoral amendment process, warning that the country is walking deliberately into another cycle of disputed elections, legitimacy crisis and democratic regression ahead of the 2027 general polls.

Speaking in an exclusive interview on Eagle 102. 5 FM, Ilese Ijebu,  Dr. Prince Adewole Adebayo accused the National Assembly of mistaking cosmetic legislative amendments for genuine electoral reform, insisting that what Nigeria urgently needs is a fundamental restructuring of its electoral system, not piecemeal adjustments.

“What they are doing is just an amendment, not a reform. Just minimal amendments. If we are truly serious about reform, we should go as far as ensuring that even the appointment of INEC officials is done by non-partisan bodies, just like in the United States.

“We should move into full electronic voting, because we already do electronic payments, electronic banking, electronic verification, electronic everything.

“Why should elections be the only thing we still do manually?” Adebayo added.

According to him, real electoral reform must go beyond technical adjustments and confront the structural roots of electoral fraud, political manipulation and institutional weakness.

“We should have reformed campaign finance to strictly limit how much money people can spend, and to make sure that any money spent on politics is fully transparent, who gave it, where it came from, and how it was spent.

“And there are so many other deep changes we ought to make. That is what reform means.” he explained.

Noting that some of the amendments are even taking Nigeria backwards, Adebayo argued that rather than advancing Nigeria’s democracy, some of the proposed amendments currently before the National Assembly actively weaken electoral accountability.

“Some of the amendments are even taking us backwards. They are trying to reduce the number of days for election notices, and they are reducing punishments for election offenders, people who buy votes, people who sell votes, people who commit electoral violence. That is not reform. That is regression.” Adebayo added.

He said the outrage across the country was driven by the legislature’s attempt to tamper with real-time electronic transmission of results, which he described as the bare minimum requirement for credible elections.

“Even the basic thing that we need, electronic transmission of results immediately after counting, they are opposing it. That is why Nigerians are angry. That is why people are up in arms.”

While explaining the mechanics behind the non-negotiable nature of electronic transmission, Adebayo said public debate has been distorted by deliberate misinformation.

“We are not asking for electronic voting. We are asking for electronic transmission of results. There is a huge difference,” We already use BVAS for electronic verification of identity.

After voting, the results are written, and copies are given to party agents and security agencies. All we are saying is take a snapshot of that result and upload it immediately so nobody can alter it later,” he emphasized

He described post-poll collation as the main theatre of electoral fraud in Nigeria, saying, “The real problem starts when results leave the polling unit and move to ward and local government collation centres.

“That is where influential people start bringing different figures. They switch results, inflate numbers, mutilate figures. By the time the result reaches Abuja, it has changed many times.

“Once the result is uploaded from the polling unit, it becomes tamper-proof. You can’t bribe anybody to change it. You can’t replace it. It is already on the central server for all Nigerians to see”, he said.

Illustrating with his personal experience from the 2023 election, Adebayo said, “In Kwara State, the votes I got at polling units were about 122,000. But the figure announced was 22,000.

“If results had been transmitted electronically from the beginning, that kind of thing would not happen. The same thing happened in many states.”

On his political future, Adebayo confirmed his intention to contest the 2027 presidential election, saying, “Whether zoning favors me or not, I will run.

“I have informed my party already”, while dismissing speculation about defecting to another party, he said, “I joined the SDP when I was 19 years old. I am still here. The party made me a presidential candidate. What else am I looking for elsewhere?” he said.