By Ambrose Amos
A former National Commissioner of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), Festus Okoye, has disclosed that the commission experienced technological difficulties and several cyberattacks during the 2023 presidential election, when its result-viewing portal (IReV) suffered a prolonged disruption.
Okoye, who spoke during an interview on Deep Insights, a podcast hosted by Austin Agbonsuremi, said the incident occurred despite extensive preparations by the electoral commission ahead of the polls.
INEC had assured Nigerians before the 2023 elections that results from polling units would be uploaded to the INEC Result Viewing Portal, IReV, allowing voters, political parties, candidates, observers and other stakeholders to view scanned copies of result sheets electronically.
However, the portal failed to function as expected after voting ended at several polling units during the presidential election. The development triggered widespread criticism and raised questions about the integrity and reliability of the electronic transmission process.
Okoye, a former INEC commissioner for voter education, said the commission initially believed the technical problem would be resolved within minutes.
He said the failure persisted for much longer than anticipated, forcing officials to consider how to communicate the situation to the public.
“What really happened was that the technology malfunctioned. That is the truth of the matter. For me, technology disappointed us. I said, okay, we need to tell Nigerians that this is the difficulty we are having and that we are trying to fix it,” Okoye said.
According to him, a statement was subsequently prepared to explain the situation, but he rejected the technical terminology initially used to describe the problem.
“And that was how the issue of glitch came into the equation,” he said.
Okoye further revealed that INEC’s digital platforms came under several cyberattacks during the election period.
“I know that there were all sorts of cyberattacks on our platforms during that particular period,” he said.
He, however, stopped short of linking the cyberattacks directly to the failure of IReV, stressing that he could not determine whether the attacks had any influence on the disruption.
“Whether those cyberattacks influenced what happened at the end of the day, I’m not in a position to say,” he added.
The former commissioner said the incident was particularly frustrating because it occurred after months of intensive preparations for the elections.
He also disclosed that INEC’s deputy director responsible for information and communications technology, ICT, later appeared before the election petition tribunal to provide an explanation of what happened.
The disclosure comes amid renewed scrutiny of the 2023 presidential election as political parties and candidates begin preparations for the 2027 polls.
Presidential candidate of the Nigeria Democratic Congress (NDC), Peter Obi, had recently accused INEC’s immediate past chairman, Prof. Mahmood Yakubu, of working for his political opposition during the 2023 election.
Obi made the allegation in an interview with ARISE News, arguing that Nigerians had placed excessive trust in INEC’s assurances before the election.
“In 2023, we took things for granted. We believed INEC. We believed what they said they would do.
“The INEC Chairman convinced the world that he would do the right thing, when, in fact, he was working for the opposition.
“This time, we will only trust them by doing the right thing ourselves,” Obi said.
0 Comments