Attahiru Jega, former head of INEC, demands investigation on iREV’s failure in2023 elections

Professor Attahiru Jega, the former chairman of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), has demanded a thorough probe into the IReV result viewing portal’s malfunction during the 2023 presidential election.

Speaking with Laolu Akande on Channels Television’s “Inside Sources” on Friday, Jega expressed issues with the portal’s tardiness in uploading results on February 25, 2023, which violated Section 60 of the Electoral Act 2022. Political parties expressed their concerns about the process’s openness through widespread protests, which were sparked by this technical issue and the manual results collation that followed.

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.