2023: Cyberattacks targeted INEC platforms — Okoye

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

Okoye disclosed this in an interview on Deep Insights, a podcast hosted by Austin Agbonsuremi.

Ahead of the 2023 elections, INEC had assured Nigerians that polling unit results would be uploaded to its Result Viewing Portal, IReV, an online platform that enables voters, political parties, candidates, observers and other stakeholders to view scanned copies of result sheets.

However, the portal remained inactive for an extended period during the presidential election, even after voting had ended at many polling units, raising concerns among Nigerians.

Okoye said INEC officials encountered difficulties uploading results during the election and initially believed the problem would be resolved within minutes.

“What really happened was that the technology malfunctioned. That is the truth of the matter. For me, technology disappointed us. I said, okay, we need to tell Nigerians that this is the difficulty we are having and that we are trying to fix it,” he said.

According to him, a press statement was subsequently drafted to explain the situation, but he objected to the technical language used in describing the problem.

“And that was how the issue of glitch came into the equation,” he said.

Okoye said the development was particularly disappointing given the extensive preparations that had preceded the election.

‘There were all sorts of cyberattacks’

The former INEC commissioner for voter education said the commission’s platforms were subjected to several cyberattacks during the election period.

“I know that there were all sorts of cyberattacks on our platforms during that particular period,” he said.

He, however, clarified that he could not establish whether the cyberattacks contributed to the problems experienced with IReV.

“Whether those cyberattacks influenced what happened at the end of the day, I’m not in a position to say,” Okoye said.

He added that INEC’s deputy director in charge of information and communications technology, ICT, later appeared before the election petition tribunal to explain the incident.