Nigeria, Feb. 19 -- On 18 February, President Bola Tinubu signed the Electoral Bill 2026 into law.

This has been a bruising few weeks: sustained protests outside the National Assembly, a disputed voice vote in the House of Representatives in which the 'nays' were audibly louder yet the Speaker ruled otherwise, teargas fired at peaceful protesters, and a joint conference committee that quietly adopted the weaker of two available positions. Now it is done. The president had the constitutional power to send it back. He chose not to. That choice belongs to him now, and so does whatever it produces in 2027.

It would be dishonest to describe this law as entirely without merit. Some provisions represent genuine progress. But an electoral law i...