The Independent National Electoral Commission has explained the reason behind the delay in uploading the results of the Presidential election to its portal.
The National Commissioner and Chairman, Information and Voter Education Committee, Festus Okoye, assured Nigeria the exact reports from the polling units would be used in the collation.
According to him, the results from the polling units are safe on the BVAS and the IReV portal.
He explained that the delay occurred as a result of technical hitches relating to the scaling up the IReV from a platform for managing off-season, State elections, to one for managing nationwide general elections. m
Okoye attributed the problem to the occurrence of glitches which he said are normal and are usually corrected,
He explained that the challenges are not as a result of sabotage of the Commission’s system stressing that the IReV is secured.
He expressed the regrets of the Commission for the distress caused Nigerians by the unfortunate development, which he said the commission’s technicians are working to fix.
He said, “The Commission is aware of challenges with the INEC Results Viewing Portal (IReV). Unlike in off-season elections where the portal was used, it has been relatively slow and unsteady. The Commission regrets this setback, especially because of the importance of IReV in our results management process.
“The problem is totally due to technical hitches related to scaling up 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.
“Consequently, the Commission wishes to assure Nigerians that the challenges are not due to any intrusion or sabotage of our systems, and that the IReV remains well-secured.
“Our technical team is working assiduously to solve all the outstanding 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. These 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.”
