The Federal Government has finally admitted that the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, deliberately halted its initial plan to transmit the February 25 presidential election results electronically.
It was earlier reported that the refusal of the electoral umpire to upload the election results had triggered controversy surrounding the outcome of the poll.
Speaking on the matter on Tuesday, the Minister of Information and Culture, Lai Mohammed opined that the move by the INEC to suspend the uploading of results followed fear of cyber-attack.
According to NAN, Mr Mohammed who disclosed this while speaking with some international media organisations in Washington DC, said the electoral body withheld the uploading of results to protect the integrity of data.
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.”