{"id":196284,"date":"2026-02-26T22:36:40","date_gmt":"2026-02-26T21:36:40","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/uncategorized\/electoral-act-time-to-push-back-on-rigging-atiku"},"modified":"2026-02-26T23:41:06","modified_gmt":"2026-02-26T22:41:06","slug":"electoral-act-time-to-push-back-on-rigging-atiku","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/parties\/electoral-act-time-to-push-back-on-rigging-atiku","title":{"rendered":"Electoral Act: Time to push back on rigging \u2013 Atiku"},"content":{"rendered":"

Africa-Press – Nigeria. <\/strong><\/span>Former Vice President Atiku Abubakar has joined other leaders of Nigeria\u2019s main opposition parties in Abuja to reject the recently signed 2026 Electoral Act.<\/p>\n

Speaking at a joint press conference, the opposition leaders called for a fresh enactment of the law in line with the aspirations of Nigerians.<\/p>\n

Atiku expressed full support for Ajuji Ahmed, who criticised provisions of the Act, particularly Section 60(3), which allows the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) to revert to manual transmission of results in cases of alleged network failure, despite the country having over 90 per cent internet coverage.<\/p>\n

The opposition leaders also rejected Section 84(2), which mandates political parties to conduct primaries either by direct or consensus mode.<\/p>\n

Describing the 2026 amendment as \u201coffensive, anti-democratic, and a deliberate attempt by the APC-led National Assembly to undermine transparency and the sanctity of elections,\u201d Atiku urged all opposition parties to unite in defending Nigeria\u2019s democracy ahead of the 2027 elections.<\/p>\n

\u201cNow is the time to push back on the rigging plan,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

It was earlier gathered that leaders of the opposition parties held a press conference at Transcorp Hilton, Maitama, in Abuja.<\/p>\n

The briefing, themed \u201cUrgent Call to Save Nigeria\u2019s Democracy,\u201d brought together prominent opposition leaders.<\/p>\n

Those present included the National Chairman of the NNPP, Ahmed Ajuji, and prominent members of the New Nigeria Peoples Party (NNPP), notably Buba Galadima.<\/p>\n

Also in attendance were ADC opposition leaders, including former Vice President Atiku Abubakar, former Anambra State Governor Peter Obi, former Minister of Transportation Rotimi Amaechi, former Osun State Governor Rauf Aregbesola, and ADC National Chairman David Mark.<\/p>\n

For More News And Analysis About Nigeria<\/span> Follow Africa-Press<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Africa-Press – Nigeria. Former Vice President Atiku Abubakar has joined other leaders of Nigeria\u2019s main opposition parties in Abuja to reject the recently signed 2026 Electoral Act. Speaking at a joint press conference, the opposition leaders called for a fresh enactment of the law in line with the aspirations of Nigerians. Atiku expressed full support […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":84,"featured_media":196283,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[24,29,28,16,2660],"tags":[254],"class_list":["post-196284","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-all-news","category-head-lines","category-homepage-english","category-parties","category-to-homepage","tag-nigeria"],"yoast_head":"\nElectoral Act: Time to push back on rigging \u2013 Atiku - Nigeria<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Former Vice President Atiku Abubakar has joined other leaders of Nigeria\u2019s main opposition parties in Abuja to reject th ...\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/parties\/electoral-act-time-to-push-back-on-rigging-atiku\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Electoral Act: Time to push back on rigging \u2013 Atiku\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Former Vice President Atiku Abubakar has joined other leaders of Nigeria\u2019s main opposition parties in Abuja to reject th ...\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/parties\/electoral-act-time-to-push-back-on-rigging-atiku\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Nigeria\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2026-02-26T21:36:40+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2026-02-26T22:41:06+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/sites\/3\/2026\/02\/sm_1772145639.665672.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1200\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"720\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"cfeditoren\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"cfeditoren\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/parties\/electoral-act-time-to-push-back-on-rigging-atiku#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/parties\/electoral-act-time-to-push-back-on-rigging-atiku\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"cfeditoren\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/#\/schema\/person\/068c7ab4e9634ae78ec5d54ec46598bb\"},\"headline\":\"Electoral Act: Time to push back on rigging \u2013 Atiku\",\"datePublished\":\"2026-02-26T21:36:40+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2026-02-26T22:41:06+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/parties\/electoral-act-time-to-push-back-on-rigging-atiku\"},\"wordCount\":281,\"commentCount\":0,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/parties\/electoral-act-time-to-push-back-on-rigging-atiku#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/sites\/3\/2026\/02\/sm_1772145639.665672.jpg\",\"keywords\":[\"Nigeria\"],\"articleSection\":[\"all news\",\"head lines\",\"homepage-english\",\"Parties\",\"to-homepage\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/parties\/electoral-act-time-to-push-back-on-rigging-atiku#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/parties\/electoral-act-time-to-push-back-on-rigging-atiku\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/parties\/electoral-act-time-to-push-back-on-rigging-atiku\",\"name\":\"Electoral Act: Time to push back on rigging \u2013 Atiku - 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