With the 2027 general elections just a year away, tensions are rising in Nigeria. On Monday, February 9, 2026, hundreds of protesters gathered outside the National Assembly in Abuja. Their demand: a reform guaranteeing absolute transparency in the election through the immediate electronic transmission of results.

The breaking point: real-time transmission

Although a new election law was passed last week, the Senate rejected a crucial amendment. This amendment would have allowed for the instant transmission of data from the 176,000 polling stations to the public portal iRev .

"What we are demanding is mandatory real-time transmission. That's not too much to ask," insists Chibuike Mgbeahuruike, a consultant at the Centre for Democracy and Development.

Currently, if the transfer is done online, it suffers from delays that the protesters consider conducive to manipulation.

Peter Obi joins the street

Peter Obi (African Democratic Congress), a leading figure in the opposition and a declared candidate for 2027, joined the rally. Having come third in the 2023 presidential election, he is calling for a "transparent process from start to finish" to restore voter confidence.

A democracy in crisis of confidence

Nigeria faces major challenges in its upcoming elections:

1. Citizen disengagement: In 2023, the participation rate fell to 27% , a historic low since the end of the military regime in 1999.
2. Logistical challenges: The new law reduces the time to prepare for elections from 360 to 180 days , a change described as a "nightmare" by the electoral commission (INEC).
3. Chronic disputes: Official results are almost systematically challenged in court.

And now ?

Faced with the scale of the protest and the general outcry, the Senate announced that it would hold an emergency session as early as Tuesday to re-examine the points of contention in the law.