Nigeria decides 2023: INEC blames IReV challenges on technical hitches
Joel Oladele-Abuja
The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) has blamed the difficulties Nigerians face in accessing its Results Viewing Portal known as IReV on technical hitches.
Addressing the issue via a statement signed by the INEC National Commissioner and Chairman, Information and Voter Education Committee, Festus Okoye Esq said the Commission regrets this setback, especially because of its importance in the results management process.
He therefore appealed to the citizens not to read any negative meaning to the situation as the results on the IReV remain secured and the technical team is on top of the situation to restore normalcy.
“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,” Okoye stated.
While taking full responsibility for the glitch, he further appealed to Nigerians to desist from any action that can heat up the polity.
“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 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,” he noted.
