Explosive Revelation: Ex-INEC Commissioner Breaks Silence on 2023 IReV Glitch

Festus Okoye, former National Commissioner of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), has disclosed that the commission encountered a significant technical challenge in uploading polling unit-level presidential election results to its Result Viewing Portal (IReV) during Nigeria's 2023 general election. Okoye described how this initial technical issue escalated into a full-blown crisis, leading to electoral officers being physically assaulted and injured as efforts to resolve the problem proved difficult.

Speaking in an interview, Okoye emphasized that the uploading difficulty specifically impacted the presidential election results. He clarified that elections for the Senate and House of Representatives, conducted on the very same day, did not experience the same challenge. He stated, “The only challenge we had, looking back, was the challenge of uploading the unit-level presidential election results, which was critical.”

Okoye recounted that when reports surfaced about the inability to upload presidential results, the INEC chairman sought assurances from the Information and Communication Technology (ICT) personnel that the issue would be swiftly rectified. However, what started as a twenty-minute delay quickly turned into a major crisis. Okoye explained the severe impact on staff, noting, “Twenty minutes and then 20 minutes it became a crisis. Some of my electoral officers were crying, some of them were being beaten up, some of them were injured. So it became a crisis.”

He firmly attributed the incident to a malfunction in the technology, lamenting that this explanation was not widely accepted by the public. “The technology malfunctioned. But people don’t believe that technology malfunctioned. That is the truth of the matter,” he insisted. Okoye also revealed his attempts to ensure that the technical difficulties were communicated to Nigerians in easily understandable language. After being informed of the challenges, he objected to the initial technically dense statement prepared by officials, pushing for a simpler explanation. He recalled telling them, “I asked them, I said, all these things you have written, all these things you are saying is that we have challenges uploading presidential results into the IReV. They said yes. I said okay, let me tell Nigerians that we have challenge uploading presidential results.” Despite his efforts, the technical team maintained that the explanation needed to adhere to the language and technical specifications of the technology involved.

Okoye expressed profound disappointment regarding the turn of events on election day, highlighting that INEC had engaged in extensive preparations for the poll. He concluded by stating, “For me, what happened was that there was technology disappointed us. And you see, it must leave for some of us that we prepared and prepared well.” He further confirmed that INEC officials had diligently monitored developments across states and made thorough preparations for the election prior to the onset of the unforeseen technical problem.