Atiku Abubakar, the presidential candidate of the African Democratic Congress, ADC, and former Vice President, has demanded that the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) immediately answer pressing concerns over the unauthorised disclosure of information from its Continuous Voter Registration, CVR, database.
Atiku made this demand known in a statement by his spokesperson, Phrank Shaibu, on Tuesday.
Recall that concerns were raised over unauthorised access to INEC’s CVR system and the disclosure of information relating to a political party’s candidate in the Federal Capital Territory (FCT).
Responding to the concerns on Tuesday, in a statement by INEC National Commissioner and Chairman of the Information and Voter Education Committee, Mohammed Haruna, the commission said it had commenced an investigation.
INEC, however, ruled out concerns of a data breach.
Reacting, Atiku said INEC’s statement had only reinforced the urgent need for a full, transparent, and independent investigation into the matter.
He noted that while INEC had attempted to reassure Nigerians that there was no external hacking incident or breach of its ICT infrastructure, the commission had nevertheless admitted that sensitive voter information was accessed through valid official credentials and subsequently released without authorisation.
“INEC’s statement has moved this issue beyond conjecture. The Commission has now confirmed that voter information was accessed through credentials assigned to personnel participating in the ongoing CVR exercise and that such information was released without authority. That admission alone should concern every Nigerian.
“What Nigerians want to know is simple: how did information that resides within a restricted electoral database find its way into the hands of political actors and their associates? The fact that there was no external hack does not diminish the gravity of the incident. If anything, it raises even more troubling questions about internal controls, institutional safeguards, and the possibility of political interference,” he stated.
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