Trending 
The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) has warned that artificial intelligence-driven disinformation could undermine the credibility of Nigeria’s 2027 general elections, as it considers new measures to strengthen electoral technology and communication.
INEC Chairman Joash Amupitan also said the commission is conducting a comprehensive audit of its electoral technology systems and considering a mock presidential election to test its readiness ahead of the polls.
The commission’s position was contained in a statement signed by its Director of Voter Education and Publicity, Victoria Eta-Messi.
Amupitan spoke on Wednesday in Abuja in a keynote address delivered on his behalf by National Commissioner Sani Adam at the 13th Annual International Conference of the Association of Communication Scholars and Professionals of Nigeria.
The conference was themed, “Media, Technology and Elections in Africa: Navigating Digital Disruption and the New Dynamics of Electoral Communication.”
Amupitan said confidence in INEC increasingly depended not only on the integrity of the ballot, the Bimodal Voter Accreditation System (BVAS) and result sheets, but also on how voters understood and trusted information about the electoral process.
He said BVAS and the INEC Result Viewing Portal (IReV) were introduced to improve election transparency by allowing citizens to view polling-unit results before they are transferred to collation centres.
However, he acknowledged that the 2023 general elections showed how technology could fuel public distrust when systems failed to perform as expected.
He said electoral legitimacy depended on reliable systems, clear public understanding and honest communication when technical shortcomings occurred.
“He, however, acknowledged that the 2023 general election showed that such technology could become a source of public doubt when it underperformed, stressing that legitimacy is earned only when systems perform reliably, are well understood, and are explained honestly when they fall short,” the statement read.
On preparations for 2027, Amupitan said INEC was reviewing its technology infrastructure, including system redundancy, penetration testing and disaster recovery arrangements.
He added that the commission was considering a mock presidential election to test voter accreditation, result transmission, and result viewing under conditions similar to an actual election.
The INEC chairman also raised concerns over the growing use of generative AI to create fake audio, videos and images capable of misleading voters.
According to him, AI has made manipulated content cheaper to produce and harder to identify, with fabricated political material already appearing during recent elections in West and East Africa.
He warned that the threat also extends to algorithmic microtargeting, which can send different or conflicting political messages to specific groups of voters without a common factual basis.
Amupitan said such content could spread to millions of social media users before fact-checkers or electoral authorities have time to establish whether it is false.
“The danger lies not only in outright fabrication but also in algorithmic microtargeting, which allows conflicting messages to reach narrow segments of the electorate without a shared factual foundation,” he said.
He also disclosed that INEC had proposed a significant budget for election technology and operations, including new accreditation devices to replace those lost or damaged during the previous electoral cycle.
While the commission was still awaiting the full release of the funds, he said its Information Communication Technology (ICT) team had begun engaging manufacturers. He added that preparations for the technology audit and proposed mock election were continuing alongside the budget process.
Amupitan outlined a five-point strategy to strengthen INEC’s response to emerging electoral communication challenges.
The measures include combining technology and communication planning, creating a rapid-response system to address false information within the same news cycle, proactively informing the public about known vulnerabilities and safeguards, strengthening collaboration with media scholars, fact-checkers and technology platforms, and investing continuously in public media literacy.
He said INEC could no longer treat technology and communication as separate aspects of election management.
Amupitan urged media professionals, technology experts, academics and other stakeholders to work with the commission to improve public understanding of and confidence in the electoral process ahead of the 2027 elections.
