Following widespread outrage at its initial rejection of real-time electronic transmission of election results from polling units to the INEC Results Viewing Portal (IReV), the Nigerian Senate convened an emergency session on February 10. Rather than aligning with popular demand and a bill already passed by the House of Representatives, which stipulated that presiding officers "shall electronically transmit the results from each polling unit to the IReV Portal real time" after signing Form EC8A, the Senate instead introduced significant amendments to the 2026 Electoral Amendment Bill. It expunged the phrase “real time upload of results” from clause 60(3) and added a caveat: while results should be transmitted electronically, if such transmission fails due to communication issues, the result contained in Form EC8A (signed by the Presiding Officer and/or polling agents) would become the primary source for collation and declaration. This adjustment was widely seen as introducing ambiguity and confusion, potentially reverting to manual collation methods susceptible to manipulation, from which many Nigerians seek to liberate the electoral process.

The Senate, through its Leader, Senator Opeyemi Bamidele, defended its decision by stating that it was guided by empirical data rather than emotion or sentiment. In a release from his Directorate of Media and Public Affairs, Bamidele explained that law-making comes with significant obligations and that the Senate could not act to the detriment of the citizenry. He cited consultations with principal actors in the communications and power sectors. Bamidele highlighted data from the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) indicating that Nigeria had only achieved approximately 70% broadband coverage in 2025, with internet user penetration at 44.53%. Furthermore, he referenced the Speedtest Global Index, which ranked Nigeria 85th out of 105 countries for mobile network reliability and 129th out of 150 for fixed internet broadband reliability, with speeds significantly lower than global averages. Concerns were also raised regarding the power infrastructure, noting that about 85 million Nigerians still lack access to grid electricity, and the country's distribution capacity is acutely limited to 4,500 megawatts despite a higher generation capacity. Based on these conditions, Bamidele doubted the practicability of mandatory real-time electronic transmission, suggesting it could plunge the country into crisis and proposing that it be discretionary.

However, critics and civil society organizations argue that real-time electronic transmission is not a luxury but a crucial reform to deepen transparency, reduce human interference, and restore public confidence in Nigeria's electoral process. They contend that the debate should be grounded in facts, not manufactured difficulties. As far back as 2018, the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) and the NCC established a Joint Technical Committee on Electronic Transmission of Election Results, which included Mobile Network Operators (MNOs). This committee found that mobile networks adequately covered 93% of INEC polling units across the country. By 2022, a nationwide survey by INEC and NCC indicated over 97% 2G and 3G coverage. Based on these findings, INEC, in its 2021 Position Paper, stated its belief in having "adequate structures and procedures to successfully transmit election results electronically" and that "The technology and national infrastructure to support this is adequate." Moreover, real-time transmission was successfully deployed in over 100 off-cycle elections, including five governorship elections before 2023, and in the 2023 governorship and State House of Assembly elections, as well as subsequent off-cycle polls.

Proponents of real-time transmission also point to advancements in telecommunications infrastructure, moving from 3G to 4G and nearing 5G, along with safeguards like Access Point Name (APN) and Virtual Private Network (VPN) that can be deployed. They assert that network concerns are largely overstated and that the issue is primarily one of political will rather than technical impossibility, drawing parallels to previous resistance against technologies like the Permanent Voter Card (PVC) and Smart Card Reader (SCR) which ultimately proved successful. The Senate’s caveat, which allows for manual collation in cases of