TheCable

The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) says issues faced with its result viewing portal (IReV) is caused by technical hitches.

In a statement on Sunday signed by Festus Okoye, INEC national commissioner, the commission said it is aware the IReV has been relatively slow and unsteady.

Although voting ended in some places on Saturday, the portal was inactive for hours, raising concerns from voters, civil society organisations, and observer groups.

INEC, in its statement, said the problem is due to technical hitches related to scaling up the IReV from a platform for managing off-season and state elections, to one for managing nationwide general election.

“The Commission regrets this setback, especially because of the importance of IReV in our results management process,” the statement reads.

“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.”

The commission also assured Nigerians that results from the polling units are safe on both the bimodal voter accreditation system (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,” the statement reads.

“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.”