The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) has assured Nigerians that the 2023 election results remain intact and securely stored, following concerns over the expiration of a domain previously used to link polling-unit result sheets on the commission’s Result Viewing Portal (IReV). INEC said the underlying election data was not stored on the expired domain but on Amazon Web Services (AWS).
Key Highlights
- INEC says 2023 election results remain intact and securely stored.
- The commission says election data is stored on Amazon Web Services.
- The expired domain, inecelectionresults.net, was previously used to deliver links to result sheets.
- MundX Analytics identified 470,619 result records linked to the discontinued domain.
- INEC says some old links continued pointing to the retired domain after its migration to a .ng platform.
- MundX said its review found no evidence that voter registers, biometric data or PVC information were exposed.
- Independent checks found many 2023 result sheets had subsequently been moved to new online servers.
INEC Says 2023 Election Results Are Safe
INEC Director of Information and Communication Technology, Lawrence Bayode, said the commission’s election results were not hosted on the expired inecelectionresults.net domain.
According to Bayode, INEC migrated from the former .net domain to its current .ng platform, while the actual election data remained stored separately on Amazon Web Services.
“Who said we have our data on that domain? It’s a platform that we no longer use,” Bayode said.
“Our result is on AWS, and it’s stored in an S3 bucket on AWS. That is where we store our results,” he added.
What Happened to the INEC Election Results Domain?
The clarification followed concerns raised by MundX Analytics, a Nigerian elections data and analytics company, over the expiration of inecelectionresults.net.
MundX said the domain expired on April 25, 2025, and was subsequently registered by another party. The company said its review found at least 470,619 result records still pointing to the discontinued domain.
According to the company, some visitors following the old links were redirected to advertising or domain-parking pages. He said the attempts to access the former domain showed that it was listed for sale.
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INEC Blames Old Links for Accessibility Problem
Bayode said the issue involved older links that continued to point to the discontinued domain after INEC migrated its platform.
He said the commission became aware of the problem while preparing its systems for the Osun State governorship election and directed its technical team to identify affected links and update them to the current platform.
“Nobody acquired our data. Nobody acquired our link. Our data is our data. And it’s still intact,” Bayode said.
INEC’s current IReV platform remains operational and provides access to polling-unit results and scanned result sheets.
MundX Says No Evidence of Voter Data Breach
MundX founder Martin Uwakwe subsequently clarified that the company’s review did not uncover voter registers, biometric information or Permanent Voter Card data on the affected domain.
He said the records involved were images or PDF copies of polling-unit result sheets that had previously been published through IReV for public scrutiny.
Uwakwe also said the investigation did not establish that INEC had sold the domain or that a specific party had acquired INEC’s election data. Rather, he said the domain appeared on a domain-drop list after its expiry and was subsequently registered through a domain-registration service.
Domain Exposure Raises Phishing and Misinformation Concerns
While MundX did not identify evidence of a compromise of INEC’s core databases, Uwakwe warned that third-party control of a domain previously associated with election results could create security and public-trust risks.
He said users visiting old links could potentially have information such as IP addresses and browsing activity collected, while deceptive redirects or false documents could potentially be presented under a domain formerly associated with INEC.
MundX urged INEC to replace remaining outdated links, restore authentic result sheets on infrastructure under its control and review how the domain was allowed to expire.
Independent Checks Find Results Moved to New Servers
Independent reporting has since found that INEC had moved many 2023 election result sheets to new online servers.
TechNext reported that 2023 presidential results were loading from a different host and that most 2023 governorship result links had also been moved. However, it identified older links still associated with the governorship results of Kogi, Bayelsa and Imo.
The development indicates that while INEC says the underlying election data remains secure, the accessibility of some historical result-sheet links remains an issue requiring technical attention.
Civil Society Raises Record-Keeping Concerns
The Centre for Anti-Corruption and Open Leadership also raised concerns over the episode.
Its chairman, Debo Adeniran, said the unavailability of polling-unit result sheets could affect cases in which such documents are relied upon as evidence.
Adeniran called for INEC to demonstrate the reliability of its migration and record-keeping systems rather than relying solely on assurances.
INEC Maintains 2023 Results Remain Intact
INEC’s position is that the expiration of the former domain did not compromise its underlying election data because the results were stored separately on AWS.
The commission’s official platforms continue to provide access to election information and result sheets, while its election results pages list results from the 2023 presidential, governorship and legislative elections.
The controversy therefore centres on the management of legacy links and public access to historical result sheets rather than evidence that INEC’s core election database was acquired or compromised. For more updates on this and other stories, follow us on X.
