Why INEC Withheld Uploading Of Results In Presidential Poll- Lai Mohammed

Posted by Nwa Diokpa Featured, Latest Headlines, News Across Nigeria Tuesday, April 4th, 2023

(AFRICAN EXAMINER) – Lai Mohammed, minister of information and culture, has stated that the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) delayed the uploading of results to its portal because of suspected cyber attacks in the presidential poll.

Mohammed stated that the allegation of fraud as told by the opposition is because of ignorance of how the process works.
Speaking with some international media organizations in Washington DC on Monday, the minister stated that the electoral body “withheld” the upload “to preserve the integrity of the data”.

He said: “Under our laws today, management of election results is manual and the court has ruled that INEC has the exclusive right to determine the mode of election, its collation and transmission,” he said.

“What happened on the 25th of February was that INEC observed that the results of the presidential elections were not being viewed. INEC, suspecting a cyber attack, withheld the uploading of the results to preserve the integrity of the data.

“It immediately proceeded to float an alternative platform while asking its technicians to investigate what happened to its original portal.”

Mohammed also disclosed that President Buhari created a level-playing ground for the elections to take place.

He said: “Proof of this resolution is that the president’s party lost the presidential election in Katsina, his home state. Equally, the president-elect, Bola Tinubu, lost in his state, Lagos, while the chairman of the party, Abdullahi Adamu, lost in Nasarawa state to the Labour Party.

“The director-general of the campaign organization of our party also lost to PDP in Plateau state. Nothing gives this election more credence than those facts because there was no rigging in states where our bigwigs come from.”