By George Omagbemi
Former National Commissioner of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), Festus Okoye, has disclosed that the commission’s digital platforms came under cyberattacks during the 2023 presidential election.
Okoye made the disclosure in an interview published on September 13, 2026, on Deep Insights, a podcast hosted by Austin Agbonsuremi. He was speaking about the controversy surrounding the electronic transmission and uploading of election results during the 2023 presidential poll.
Ahead of the election, INEC had assured Nigerians that polling-unit results would be uploaded to its Result Viewing Portal, known as IReV. The platform was designed to allow voters, political parties, candidates, observers and other stakeholders to view scanned copies of polling-unit result sheets.
However, technical difficulties affected the uploading of presidential election results to IReV on election day, triggering widespread criticism and questions about the transparency of the electoral process.
Speaking during the interview, Okoye said INEC’s platforms experienced “all sorts of cyberattacks” during the election period. Importantly, he did not establish that the cyberattacks caused the IReV upload glitch, saying he could not determine whether the attacks influenced the problem.
His comments have renewed attention to the technological challenges surrounding Nigeria’s 2023 election and the need for stronger cybersecurity and more reliable electoral technology ahead of future polls.
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