One complaint that featured in all petitions contesting the result of the presidential election of February 25 in Nigeria is failure of the electoral body to upload election results from polling units.
Indeed, instant upload of results was a promise by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) that Nigerians trusted with their heart.
Wholeheartedly, they believed it would make their thumb on the ballot paper reflect on INEC’s portal.
But that was not the case.
Different persons have defended the electoral body, making a case for this failure.
From INEC to individuals in the ruling party which also won the election that foreign observers said was flawed.
INEC’s Reason
Since that election, Nigerians have been complaining about INEC’s inability to fulfill its promise to upload the results.
The commission’s spokesperson, Festus Okoye, had said glitches were not uncommon 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,” Mr Okoye said.
Lai Mohammed’s Reason
In what seems to contradict the reason given by INEC, Information Minister, Lai Mohammed, said INEC deliberately refused to upload the results.
Mr Mohammed said this while speaking in Washington DC, United States.
The News Agency of Nigeria reports that the minister is in Washington to engage with international media organisations and Think Tanks on the just-concluded 2023 polls.
According to the minister, the conclusion by the opposition was based on ignorance of the role and functions of IReV.
He said IReV, a platform for uploading results at the polling unit level, was not a tool for the collation of election results or to transmit results electronically.
Mr Mohammed explains that under Nigerian laws, the management of election results is manual.
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Also, he says the court has ruled that INEC has the exclusive right to determine the mode of election, its collation, and transmission.
“What happened on the 25th of February was that INEC observed that the results of the presidential election were not being viewed,” says the minister.
“INEC, suspecting cyberattack, withheld the uploading of the results in order to preserve the integrity of the data.
“It immediately proceeded to float an alternative platform while asking its technicians to investigate what happened to its original portal.”
Furthermore, Mr Mohammed said the alternative portal did not start working until 9:00pm.
He said as soon as the original portal started working, the results were viewed from the two platforms.
