Former Chairman of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), Professor Attahiru Jega has stated that its database is not beyond hacking as long as it is online.

Jega made the assertion while speaking to Trust TV on INEC’s readiness ahead of the Presidential and National Assembly elections on Saturday.

While speaking on the use of the Bimodal Voter Accreditation System (BVAS), he said that no one can assure that the commission’s database cannot be hacked.

“You see, in this modern age, nobody can give you 100 per cent assurance that a database cannot be hacked unless the database is not online.

“In 2015, when we did the elections, our database wasn’t online.

“But now, particularly because there’s the issue of electronic transmission of results, it has to be online.

“But all over the world, databases are used and they are relatively safe to be used because people now deploy effective cyber-security systems.

“And INEC had said consistently, that knowing the political terrain, they have also got the best cyber security for the databases that they have.

“And we have to believe that they’ve done their best.

“It doesn’t mean it will be 100 per cent secure but I know that whoever uses a database, also uses a security alternative which virtually nobody knows,” Jega stated.