A former National Commissioner of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), Festus Okoye, has disclosed that the commission’s digital platforms were targeted by cyberattacks during the 2023 presidential election.

Okoye made the disclosure during an interview on Deep Insights, a podcast hosted by Austin Agbonsuremi, while reflecting on the challenges encountered by INEC during the election.

Ahead of the election, INEC had assured Nigerians that results from polling units would be uploaded to its Result Viewing Portal, IReV, allowing voters, political parties, candidates and observers to view scanned copies of result sheets. However, the portal remained inactive for an extended period during the presidential election.

According to Okoye, INEC officials encountered difficulties uploading results and initially believed the technical problem would be resolved within minutes. He said the technology malfunctioned and that a statement was subsequently prepared to explain the situation to Nigerians.

The former commissioner said the incident was particularly disappointing because of the extensive preparations that had preceded the election. He also disclosed that INEC’s platforms were subjected to “all sorts of cyberattacks” during the election period.

However, Okoye cautioned against linking the cyberattacks directly to the IReV problems, saying he could not establish whether the attacks influenced the difficulties experienced by the platform. He added that INEC’s deputy director responsible for information and communications technology later appeared before the election petition tribunal to explain the incident.