IReV challenges: INEC assures results from PUs safe

The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) on Sunday assured Nigerians that results from Polling Units are safe, on both the Bimodal Voters Accreditation System (BVAS) and INEC Result Viewing (IReV) portal.

INEC National Commissioner and Chairman of Information and Voter Education Committee,  Festus Okoye, in a statement  in Abuja on Sunday, indicated that the commission is aware of the challenges with the IReV, saying that the technical team is working assiduously to solve all outstanding challenges with the portal.

Okoye declared: “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.”

Okoye assured Nigerians that the challenges were not due to any intrusion or sabotage of INEC systems, and that the IReV remained well-secured.

Okoye  assured: “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.”

Okoye maintained that Nigeria fully appreciated the concerns of the public on the situation and welcomed various suggestions that it had received from concerned Nigerians.

The INEC Commissioner counselled that it was important to avoid statements and actions that could  heat up the polity at this time or promote disaffection toward the commission.

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“We take full responsibility for the problems and regret the distress that they have caused the candidates, political parties and the electorate,” Okoye said.

NAN