Former Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) Chairman, Professor Attahiru Jega, has called for a full investigation into the malfunction of the IReV result viewing portal during the 2023 presidential election.
Jega, speaking on Channels Television’s “Inside Sources” with Laolu Akande on Friday, raised concerns about the portal’s failure to upload results promptly on February 25, 2023, contravening Section 60 of the Electoral Act 2022. This technical hitch, coupled with the subsequent manual collation of results, triggered widespread protests from political parties who questioned the transparency of the process.
Jega attributed the malfunction to possible external interference.
Jega said: “If you ask my opinion, I feel very strongly that INEC needs to tell us more about what happened with the IReV. “In fact, at one point, I was even calling for a thorough public inquiry about what happened with regards to IReV.
“I feel that something has happened, that in spite of the confidence and the very articulate manner the INEC chairman (Mahmood Yakubu) had spoken about the IReV, it then failed.
“I believe that some of our reckless politicians may have infiltrated it and truncated it but INEC will take the blame for that.” After resolving the court cases, Jega emphasised that INEC must thoroughly investigate the IReV issues.
