morganable politics/elections
The controversy arose after MundX Analytics raised concerns on social media, alleging that INEC had lost control of the inecelectionresults.net domain after it expired in April 2025.
KaNo—
The Independent National Electoral Commission has assured Nigerians that the results of the 2023 general elections remain intact and securely stored, despite concerns triggered by the expiration of a domain previously linked to its election results portal.
The clarification followed allegations by a Nigerian data analytics firm, MundX Analytics, which claimed that INEC allowed a domain used in hosting polling-unit results to lapse, raising fears about the accessibility and preservation of election records.
Speaking in a chat with Punch News, INEC’s Director of Information and Communication Technology, Lawrence Bayode, dismissed the concerns, insisting that the commission’s election data had never been hosted on the expired domain.
He explained that the domain in question, inecelectionresults.net, was part of an earlier platform that had since been discontinued after INEC migrated to a newer domain with a .ng extension.
“Who said we have our data on that domain? It means they don’t know what they are saying. It’s a platform that we no longer use,” Bayode said.
He stressed that INEC does not store sensitive election data on web domains, noting that the commission relies on Amazon Web Services infrastructure for secure storage.
“Our data is not on that domain. Our data is on AWS. Even the current .ng platform does not host our data. We don’t put our data on domains,” he said.
Bayode further clarified that the election results are stored in Amazon’s Simple Storage Service, commonly known as S3, which provides cloud-based storage designed for durability and security.
According to him, all results from the 2023 general elections uploaded through the INEC Result Viewing Portal are preserved within this system.
“All our results are there in that bucket. Since we started using IReV, it is a Simple Storage Service on AWS. That is where we store all our results,” he explained.
The controversy arose after MundX Analytics raised concerns on social media, alleging that INEC had lost control of the inecelectionresults.net domain after it expired in April 2025.
The firm claimed that the domain, which it said was previously used to host links to hundreds of thousands of polling-unit result sheets, was subsequently acquired by a third party and now redirects users to advertising websites.
According to MundX, the development has rendered a significant number of result sheets inaccessible through their original links on the IReV portal.
The firm stated that at least 470,619 result records were affected, as they still pointed to the expired domain.
It added that the domain was dropped on April 25, 2025, and re-registered the same day by another entity through a domain registration service.
“Today, the domain is connected to a commercial domain parking system designed to monetise internet traffic through advertising and redirects,” the company said.
“A pathway to Nigeria’s election record has become a pathway to advertisements. This is what Nigerians now experience.”
MundX also criticised INEC for what it described as a delay in addressing the issue, noting that it had contacted the commission over a month earlier without receiving a response.
The firm urged INEC to restore the affected links, secure its digital infrastructure, and provide a clear explanation on how the domain was allowed to expire.
“INEC’s responsibility did not end when these results were uploaded. It includes preserving them, protecting them, and ensuring that Nigerians can access them,” the company said.
However, Bayode maintained that the expiration of the domain does not in any way compromise the integrity or security of the election results.
He explained that the issue was limited to outdated links that still pointed to the old domain, rather than any loss of data.
“The only thing is that some of the results at that time were pointing to that dot net domain. That is what is causing the confusion,” he said.
He disclosed that INEC became aware of the issue while preparing its systems ahead of the Osun State governorship election.
Following this discovery, the commission directed its technical team to identify all affected links and ensure they were updated to point to the current platform.
“We told them to run it and ensure that they are pointing to the right domain, which is the .ng that we are using now,” Bayode said.
He added that there was no need for INEC to renew a domain that had already been phased out.
“When you create a domain and stop using it, it will get to a point where they will put it up for sale. Because we no longer use that domain, it got expired. There is no need to renew what we are no longer using,” he said.
The ICT director also dismissed suggestions that any individual or organisation had gained access to INEC’s election data through the domain.
“Nobody acquired our data. Nobody acquired our link. Our data is our data and it is still intact,” he said.
Despite INEC’s assurances, MundX clarified that its investigation did not suggest any breach of sensitive voter information.
In a follow-up response to Punch News, the company’s founder, Martin Uwakwe, said the affected records were limited to publicly available images or PDF copies of polling-unit result sheets previously uploaded to the IReV portal.
He noted that the investigation did not uncover any database containing voters’ personal details, biometric data, Permanent Voter Card information, or the voter register on the expired domain.
While acknowledging this, the firm maintained that the accessibility of election results remains a critical aspect of electoral transparency and public trust.
Observers say the situation highlights the growing importance of digital infrastructure management in modern elections, particularly as electoral bodies increasingly rely on online platforms to enhance transparency.
The introduction of the IReV portal during the 2023 general elections was widely seen as a significant step towards improving credibility, allowing Nigerians to view polling-unit results in near real time.
However, experts note that maintaining such systems requires continuous oversight, including ensuring that links remain functional and that legacy platforms are properly decommissioned.
As the debate continues, INEC’s position remains that the core election data is secure and unaffected, even as concerns persist over the accessibility of some result links.
For many Nigerians, the development underscores the need for stronger safeguards not only around the storage of electoral data but also its long-term accessibility as public record.
