NAVIGATING THE EVIDENTIAL BURDEN OF ELECTRONIC LOGS IN NIGERIAN ELECTION PETITIONS

This research examines how the evidential burden of electronic logs can be successfully discharged within the current statutory and jurisprudential framework of the Nigerian electoral system. It investigates the tension between the digital transparency envisaged by the repealed Electoral Act 2022 and its successor, the Electoral Act 2026, and the strict, paper-based evidential requirements demanded by the judiciary. Adopting a doctrinal legal analysis, the study examines the intersecting regimes of the Electoral Act 2026 and the Evidence Act 2011 (as amended by the Evidence (Amendment) Act 2023), critically reviews judicial precedents from the 2023 election petition cycle, and draws comparative insights from Kenya and India. The findings reveal that the technological shift has not resulted in a corresponding judicial shift; courts continue to uphold the primacy of manual results over electronic records, often rendering digital evidence inadmissible due to strict certification standards under Section 84 of the Evidence Act. Furthermore, rather than correcting these deficiencies, the Electoral Act 2026 has codified the conservative judicial precedents of the 2023 cycle, formally subordinating electronic logs to Form EC8A and abandoning the progressive intent of the former Section 137 by entrenching strict oral evidence requirements in its First Schedule. Consequently, the paper recommends urgent legislative reform of the Electoral Act 2026, including a conditional supremacy clause for electronic results, a statutory shift of the burden of proof to the electoral commission once a prima facie case of non-compliance is established, and an overhaul of the First Schedule procedural rules to assign probative value to certified electronic logs without the mandatory production of oral testimony.