Section 25
Announcement and declaration of election results(1) The results of all the elections shall be announced by the—
(a) Presiding officer at the polling unit;
(b) Ward Collation Officer at the registration area or Ward Collation Centre;
(c) Local Government or Area Council Collation Officer at the Local Government or Area Council Collation Centre; and
(d) State Collation Officer at the State Collation Centre.
(2) The returning officer shall announce the result and declare the winner of the election at—
(a) Registration Area or Ward Collation Centre in the case of Councillorship election in the Federal Capital Territory;
(b) Area Council Collation Centre in the case of Chairmanship and Vice Chairmanship election in the Federal Capital Territory;
(c) State Constituency Collation Centre in the case of State House of Assembly election;
(d) Federal Constituency Collation Centre in the case of election to the House of Representatives;
(e) Senatorial District Collation Centre in the case of election to the Senate;
(f) State Collation Centre in the case of election of a Governor of a State;
(g) State Collation Centre in the case of a Presidential election; and
(h) National Collation Centre in the case of election of the President.
(3) The Chief Electoral Commissioner shall be the returning officer at the Presidential election.
This provision indicates “who” announces/declares election results and “where” it is to be done. The provision indicates the location where results are announced/declared with each corresponding official. Announcement and declaration of results is a mandatory legal requirement of the electoral process.
The provisions in the repealed Act are mostly retained except for inclusion of the new term – “Registration Area” in 25 (1) (b) and 25 (2) (b) in addition to the existing “Ward Collation Centre.” It brings the law in line with realities on ground as Registration Areas are referred to as Wards in the Federal Capital Territory.
Also, new subsection (2) (g) creates a State Collation Centre for the Presidential election.
Note: Results are declared at various stages and locations depending on the type of Election.
FCT Councillorship election – Registration Area/Ward Collation Centre
FCT Chairmanship Election – Local Government Area (LGA) Collation Centre
State House of Representative – State Constituency Collation Election Centre
Federal House of Representative – Federal Constituency Collation Election Centre
Senatorial Election – Senatorial District Collation Centre
Governorship Election – State Collation Centre
Presidential Elections – National Collation Centre
The Supreme Court restated the provisions of Section 28(2) which is now Section 25 on “who” announces/declares election results and “where” it is to be done.
On Power of Returning Officer to announce election results.
AISHATU AHMED DAHIRU & 1 OR V. INEC & 2 ORS (SC/CV/1/2024) (Unreported) @ Pg. 10
The Supreme Court in emphasizing the illegality of a governorship election result announced by
a person other than the Returning Officer held thus as per Okoro, JSC:
“There is no doubt that the Electoral Act gives responsibility of declaring result on the Returning Officer
of the particular election and this responsibility does not inure to any other person no matter how highly placed
within and outside the commission. As was stated by the court below, this power is exclusively for the returning officer.
If some other person outside the returning officer announces the result of the election as done by the Resident Electoral
Commissioner in this case, such announcement and declaration will be illegal, null and void.”
See INEC website on: Collation and Declaration of Election Results
