A former National Commissioner of the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, Festus Okoye, says the commission’s platforms came under several cyberattacks during the 2023 presidential election.
Okoye disclosed this during an interview on the Deep Insights podcast hosted by Austin Agbonsuremi. (TheCable)
He said INEC encountered difficulties uploading polling unit results to its Result Viewing Portal, IReV, during the election, with the platform remaining inactive for an extended period after voting had ended in many polling units.
According to Okoye, the problem was initially believed to be a temporary technology malfunction that would be resolved within minutes, but it persisted for much longer.
He said a statement was drafted to explain the situation to Nigerians, but disagreements over the technical language used to describe the problem eventually led to the use of the term “glitch.”
Okoye described the incident as disappointing, particularly because of the extensive preparations that preceded the election.
The former commissioner also confirmed that INEC’s platforms were targeted by cyberattacks during the election period.
However, he said he could not determine whether the cyberattacks contributed to the difficulties experienced with the IReV platform.
Okoye added that INEC’s deputy director responsible for information and communications technology later appeared before the election petition tribunal to explain the incident. (TheCable)
