The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) has said voter accreditation and result collation will not be fully automated in the 2027 general elections, assuring Nigerians that human oversight will remain central to the electoral process.
INEC Chairman, Prof. Joash Amupitan, SAN, gave the assurance on Wednesday while delivering the keynote address at the Artificial Intelligence and Democracy Forum 2026 in Abuja, organised in collaboration with Yiaga Africa.
“Algorithms will not, and must never, decide the 2027 vote,” Amupitan said, according to INEC’s Wednesday bulletin.
He explained that critical electoral decisions, including voter accreditation, result collation and candidate qualification, would not be fully automated or delegated to autonomous systems.
“Human accountability, statutory oversight and judicial review will remain paramount at every stage of the electoral chain,” he added.
Amupitan said the choice of who leads Nigeria belonged exclusively to the electorate, stressing that artificial intelligence (AI) would not replace the people’s decision.
INEC raises alarm over AI-generated misinformation
The INEC chairman warned that advances in generative AI had made it easier to produce convincing deepfake videos and cloned audio recordings capable of misleading voters.
He said such content could falsely portray candidates making statements they never made or election officials issuing unauthorised instructions.
“The greatest threat we face is not the hacking of a ballot box, but the hacking of the voter’s mind,” he said.
Amupitan warned that fake videos or audio recordings could announce a false candidate withdrawal, claim that an election had been postponed or spread inflammatory ethnic and religious messages within minutes.
He also cautioned that malicious actors could impersonate the INEC chairman, resident electoral commissioners and other officials to circulate fake guidelines, announce unauthorised results or discourage voters from participating.
According to him, voters’ inability to distinguish genuine information from synthetic content could undermine informed electoral choices.
Commission establishes AI unit
To address the threat, Amupitan disclosed that INEC had established an AI Unit within its Information and Communication Technology Directorate.
He said the unit was equipped with digital monitoring tools, deepfake detection software and data analytics capabilities.
The commission, he added, would subject AI tools used for logistics, database management and operational support to rigorous audits to assess their explainability, fairness and security before deployment.
INEC is also developing a digital strategy to monitor the electoral information environment and working with technology platforms to debunk and label AI-generated content relating to elections.
Amupitan called on Meta, X, Google, TikTok and Telegram to act swiftly against unlabelled synthetic media impersonating candidates, election officials or security personnel.
He also urged the platforms to enforce disclaimers on political advertisements and restrict micro-targeting based on ethnicity, religion or local origin.
The chairman further called on political parties and candidates to sign an Ethical AI Code of Conduct committing them to avoid deepfakes, synthetic impersonation, deceptive political advertisements and automated bot networks.
AI to support audits and election logistics
Despite the risks, Amupitan said AI could improve administrative efficiency, planning and electoral integrity when properly deployed.
He explained that although human-led collation remained the statutory standard for declaring results, AI could conduct parallel statistical audits of polling unit result sheets uploaded through the eEC8A system.
Such tools could flag mathematical inconsistencies, unusual entry patterns and poor-quality images for administrative review.
He also said AI-powered geospatial analysis could help INEC deploy ad hoc staff, vehicles, boats and sensitive election materials to 176,846 polling units before 7:30 a.m. on election day.
Amupitan described the 2027 election as a major democratic exercise, involving more than 103 million registered voters across 774 local government areas.
He added that 10 of the 14 major operational milestones under the Electoral Act 2026 had been completed.
The two-day forum was attended by electoral officials, political party representatives, civil society organisations, security agencies, technology companies and media representatives, including Abdoulaye Sylla, chairman of Senegal’s electoral commission and chairperson of the ECOWAS Network of Electoral Commissions.
Amupitan said AI should support, rather than replace, human judgment and the constitutional process.
“On election day in 2027, it will be the thumbprint of the Nigerian citizen, guided by their own will and their own hopes, that decides our future,” he said.
