The senator, who also chairs the Senate Committee on Judiciary, Legal Matters and Human Rights, spoke during an interview on Arise Television on Thursday, February 12, 2026.
Responding to remarks suggesting that lawmakers and government officials had resolved that elections should not be free and fair, Adegbonmire expressed strong disagreement.
“First and foremost, I think it’s totally unfair for you to say legislators and government officials have decided that elections should not be free and fair. That’s an unfair statement. Where did you get that from? Now, the fact that you desire something and I say I look at it differently doesn’t mean that I don’t want free and fair elections. Why would a legislator not want free and fair elections?” he said.
When asked whether Nigeria has continued to face challenges with the conduct of elections, the senator insisted on completing his response before addressing the broader issue. “Let me finish. You have asked me a question. Now, I, who is here, want an election. I would want my election to be free and fair, to enable me coming to the Senate. So why would I want to legislate that we don’t have a free and fair election? It’s not in my interest. People need to understand that. And this is part of the issues that we have,” he stated.
He questioned the rationale behind allegations that lawmakers would deliberately undermine electoral integrity. “Why does anybody think that we would legislate so that there won’t be free and fair elections? The answer is this. We have issues.
And because we have issues, because the legislator, particularly the National Assembly, has realized that, that is why there is a process in amending the Act,” Adegbonmire said.
He added that the legislative process remains open to further adjustments if necessary.
He said; “If tomorrow any other thing occurs, and we think that legislation is required, of course we’ll do it. It is in our interest that elections are free and fair.
But the opposition can continue to say, oh, this, this, where’s the evidence? Out of where’s the evidence?”
“Why would I not want a free and fair election? Why would I not want it? It’s in my interest. It’s the interest of everybody. It is also in the interest of the opposition.
But that doesn’t mean that you then start to misrepresent facts solely because you have an agenda. And that is the problem with the opposition,” he added.
The senator also referenced comments attributed to former ministers. “The other day somebody said, he saw Mr. Amaechi and Mr. Peter Obi talk about electronic voting.
I said they couldn’t possibly have said that. Both of them want to be president of Nigeria.
And they said they don’t know the difference between e-voting and IReV. So these are some of the misconceptions that we need to clear,” he concluded.
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