The Chairman of the Independent National Electoral Commission, Joash Amupitan, has assured Nigerians that the technical hitches that undermined the electronic transmission of results during the 2023 general election have been fully resolved ahead of the 2027 polls.
Amupitan gave the assurance on Saturday while speaking at a citizens’ town hall on the Electoral Act 2026 held in Abuja, declaring that the commission had overhauled its technological framework to prevent a recurrence of the failure that trailed the upload of polling unit results to the INEC Result Viewing Portal.
The malfunction of the IReV portal during the 2023 presidential election sparked widespread criticism and litigation, with political parties and civil society groups questioning the credibility of the electoral process.
But the INEC chairman expressed confidence that lessons learnt from the previous election had informed comprehensive reforms, including improved stress-testing and system upgrades.
“The glitch is eliminated; by God’s grace, it will not surface in Nigeria,” Amupitan said. “We are determined to give Nigerians a near-perfect election.”
He explained that although the Bimodal Voter Accreditation System had been deployed in off-cycle governorship elections prior to the 2023 general polls, the nationwide scale of the presidential election exposed weaknesses that had not been fully tested across all states.
“Election anywhere in the world is now about technology, but before deploying any technology, it is important to test it thoroughly,” he added.
Amupitan further clarified that provisions in the Electoral Act allowing alternative methods of result collation were merely precautionary safeguards and should not be interpreted as an admission that electronic transmission could fail.
“It is just a proviso, a safety. If it fails, results must still be transmitted. But our determination is that it will not fail during my tenure,” he stated.
The assurance comes amid heightened political activities ahead of the 2027 general election, with stakeholders calling on the electoral umpire to rebuild public trust following controversies that trailed the last presidential poll.
INEC has repeatedly pledged to strengthen its technological backbone, improve transparency, and deepen voter confidence as preparations gradually gather momentum for the next electoral cycle.
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