Elochukwu Benjamin
Awka
A fresh debate has emerged over the failure to upload the 2023 presidential election results to the Independent National Electoral Commission’s (INEC) Result Viewing Portal (IReV), following remarks by former INEC National Commissioner, Festus Okoye, and a strong rebuttal from human rights advocate, Prof. Chidi Odinkalu.
Speaking during a recently uploaded podcast, Okoye, who served as INEC’s National Commissioner and Chairman of the Information and Voter Education Committee (IVEC), said the commission had prepared extensively for the 2023 general elections but was hindered by a technological challenge during the presidential poll.
According to him, the then INEC Chairman was deeply upset by the development because of the extensive preparations undertaken ahead of the elections, including nationwide mock exercises to test the electoral process.
Okoye said Nigerians should appreciate that the commission invested significant effort in preparing for the elections, adding that a technical glitch prevented the upload of presidential election results to the IReV platform.
He also disclosed that the commission faced several cyberattacks during the election period, although he stopped short of saying those attacks compromised the electoral process.
His remarks have reignited discussions surrounding the conduct of the 2023 presidential election, particularly as many Nigerians have maintained that the failure to upload presidential results was due to human actions rather than purely technical problems.
Reacting on his verified X account, former Chairman of Anambra State’s Truth, Justice and Peace Commission, Prof. Chidi Odinkalu, dismissed Okoye’s explanation, arguing that it failed to address a central question about what happened during the election.
Odinkalu wrote that accepting Okoye’s account would require believing that INEC’s senior leadership was “dumb and stupid,” a characterization he said he did not accept.
He questioned why results for the Senate, House of Representatives and State House of Assembly elections, conducted simultaneously with the presidential election, were successfully uploaded, while the presidential results were not.
According to him, any genuine explanation of the events should account for why one category of election results was transmitted successfully while the presidential results were not.
The development has renewed public interest in the unresolved questions surrounding the electronic transmission of results during the 2023 general elections, and how it may likely impact the 2027 General Elections.
It raises questions about a lack of accountability on the part of the electoral body and its leadership, and the implications of this in emboldening public office holders to continue to do wrong, believing that questions will not be asked.
