Mr President,

This is a respectful but urgent appeal in the national interest.

Nigeria is approaching another critical election cycle under conditions of heightened distrust and political tension. At such a moment, every action taken by the executive and the legislature regarding electoral law carries consequences far beyond procedure. It carries consequences for peace, legitimacy, and national cohesion.

Reports and debates surrounding proposed electoral amendments, especially those touching on the electronic transmission and real time upload of results, have triggered widespread public anxiety. Nigerians followed the reform consultations, hearings, and committee processes with the understanding that transparency safeguards would be strengthened, not weakened.

Any move, whether by omission, ambiguity, or revision, that appears to reduce transparency in result transmission and collation will be interpreted by millions as deliberate preparation for manipulation. That perception alone could ignite nationwide protests and resistance that no security architecture can comfortably contain.

Mr President, stability is not enforced only by force capacity. It is secured by public trust. The cheapest security strategy available to any government is electoral credibility. When citizens trust the vote, they accept outcomes even when disappointed. When they do not trust the process, they reject outcomes even when lawful.

You stand today in a position to calm the nation before tensions harden. A clear executive position in favor of mandatory real time electronic transmission of polling unit results, full IREV visibility, and tamper proof collation procedures would send a powerful reassurance signal across all regions and parties.

This is not about benefiting one party or harming another. It is about preventing a legitimacy crisis that could damage every institution at once. Electoral opacity would not merely hurt the opposition. It would weaken the presidency itself, whoever occupies it.

Nigeria does not need managed outcomes. Nigeria needs trusted outcomes.

We respectfully urge you to support and publicly endorse the strongest possible transparency provisions in the final harmonized Electoral Reform Bill. Let the law clearly require real time electronic transmission by presiding officers. Let result collation be verifiable at every stage. Let no ambiguity remain that can be exploited later.

The alternative is predictable: mass suspicion, mass protest, international doubt, and domestic instability. None of these serve your legacy or the nation’s future.

History will remember whether this administration strengthened the ballot or strained it.

Respectfully,
Duruebube Uzii na Abosi
Hon. Chima Nnadi-Oforgu

http://www.oblongmedia.net

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