The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) has attributed the problem with it’s Results Viewing Portal (IReV) to technical hitches in scaling it up to portal.
INEC National Commissioner and Chairman, Information and Voter Education Committee, Festus Okoye, disclosed this in a statement on Sunday evening.
According to Okoye, the Commission was aware of challenges with its IReV, noting it was unlike in off-season elections where the portal was used.
The statement lamented that IReV has been relatively slow and unsteady, adding that “The Commission regrets this setback, especially because of the importance of IReV in our results management process.
“The problem is totally due to the IReV from a platform for managing off-season, State elections, to one for managing nationwide general elections. It is indeed not unusual for glitches to occur and be corrected in such situations.’
Okoye assured Nigerians that the challenges are not due to any intrusion or sabotage of our systems, and that the IReV remains well-secured.
He said the Commission’s technical team is working assiduously to rectify the problems, and users of the IReV would have noticed improvements since last night.
“We also wish to assure Nigerians that results from the Polling Units, copies of which were issued to political parties, are safe on both the BVAS and the IReV portal.”
Okoye assured that the results cannot be tampered with and any discrepancy between them and the physical results used in collation will be thoroughly investigated and remediated, in line with Section 65 of the Electoral Act 2022.
,”While we fully appreciate the concerns of the public on this situation and welcome various suggestions that we have received from concerned Nigerians, it is important to avoid statements and actions that can heat up the polity at this time or promote disaffection towards the Commission.
“We take full responsibility for the problems and regret the distress that they have caused the candidates, political parties and the electorate.”
