2027: INEC’s plan to introduce AI in electoral process sparks reactions

The announcement on Tuesday by the Chairman of the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, Prof Joash Amupitan that the electoral umpire has established a dedicated Artificial Intelligence (AI) Division and commenced integrating its tools into its election results verification and cybersecurity systems ahead of the 2027 general elections has not gone down well with some Nigerians, particularly opposition members.

Amupitan made the disclosure in Abuja at a world press conference and national stakeholders’ meeting organised to mark 100 days to the first ballot of the 2027 elections.

He disclosed that automated AI auditing tools were being integrated into the Commission’s results verification process under a five-pillar AI Governance Framework, with mandatory human oversight.

He added that INEC was finalising a policy to guide the deployment of the technology.

He noted that the Commission was also integrating AI-driven anomaly detection tools to monitor database traffic and protect its public portals against cyber intrusions and unauthorised alterations.

The INEC boss, however, warned that the growing use of generative AI, voice cloning and deepfake videos posed a serious threat to the integrity of the electoral process.

“Generative AI, voice cloning and deepfake videos now make it cheap to fabricate the voices of election officials, doctored result sheets and fake letterheads and to spread them faster than they can be verified,” he said.

He, therefore, urged the media to establish fact-checking desks and verify election-related information with INEC before publication.

“In national elections, it is far more important to be right than to be first,” he said.

However, there are concerns in some quarters about the timing and rationale behind the introduction of the technology.

Some have questioned why INEC would introduce a process that Amupitan himself admitted could be easily faked in an election as important as the 2027 polls.

Those advancing this argument believe that the INEC chairman has not disclosed the true intention behind the plan to introduce AI into the electoral process, especially when it is clear that results and even the voices of INEC officials could easily be cloned.

Reacting to the development, the Obidient Movement outrightly rejected the initiative, demanding that the technology be excluded from results collation and that every result remain independently verifiable.

The movement, in a statement by its Media and Communications Directorate, described INEC’s proposal as “reckless and unacceptable,” citing the Commission’s disclosure that its AI governance policy was still being finalised.

“INEC cannot tell Nigerians that it intends to introduce AI into one of the most sensitive stages of the electoral process while simultaneously admitting that the rules governing its use are still being developed.

“Nigerians are not guinea pigs for another untested electoral experiment. We reject the use of AI in results collation and demand that INEC immediately abandon the plan,” it said.

The movement argued that INEC should prioritise restoring public confidence following what it described as the credibility crisis surrounding the 2023 elections.

Citing alleged alterations to and defacement of result sheets, it maintained that the problems witnessed in 2023 were not caused by a lack of technology and called for greater transparency and accountability.

It demanded a system in which results could be traced from polling units through every stage of collation to the final declaration and independently verified by political parties, observers, journalists and citizens.

The movement also questioned Amupitan’s warning against announcing or declaring results that had not been released by INEC.

It argued that while the Commission had the statutory authority to declare official results, such warnings, coming at a time when INEC was simultaneously pushing an unfinished AI framework, raised serious questions about what the Commission was trying to control and why.

It called for a clear, transparent and independently auditable framework for every technology to be deployed in the elections, alongside the publication of Forms EC8A, EC8B, EC8C, EC8D and EC8E on the INEC Result Viewing (IReV) portal.

“The votes of Nigerians belong to Nigerians. No algorithm, server, software, official or political party has the right to alter the wishes of the people,” the movement said.

In the same vein, the National Chairman of the African Democratic Congress, ADC, Senator David Mark, has also kicked against the plan.

In a statement issued by the Office of the ADC National Publicity Secretary, Mark said the party would comply with electoral rules but would not accept rigging or allow itself to be rigged out.

He issued the party’s warning during a courtesy visit by the Governing Council of the Savannah Centre for Diplomacy, Democracy and Development to the party’s headquarters in Abuja on Wednesday.

He said the party would abide by INEC’s rules and its Orange Book, which encapsulates its principles.

“We are committed to playing politics in a manner that promotes public confidence in democracy. We hold ourselves to the highest standards of good conduct as a political party. We will play by the rules. But we will not accept rigging or allow ourselves to be rigged out,” he said.

The council, led by former Chief Justice of Nigeria, Justice Olukayode Ariwoola, said the visit formed part of the centre’s ongoing engagements with political parties and leaders ahead of the elections.

Ariwoola reaffirmed the centre’s commitment to free, fair and credible elections and urged the ADC leadership to encourage its candidates and members to comply with INEC’s rules and eschew political violence.

Also, a businessman and concerned Nigerian, Rowland Osazuwa, warned INEC against playing any kind of trick in the 2027 elections.

According to him, Nigerians are going through a lot and want to take their destiny into their own hands in 2027.

“So, any attempt by INEC to play any kind of monkey trick will be resisted. What is INEC trying to tell us? That a process which is prone to cloning is what it wants to introduce for the 2027 election, or what?

“Look, these people still don’t understand the situation in Nigeria today. We are suffering like never before, and we want to use the 2027 election to ameliorate our suffering.

“If INEC knows that AI is prone to cloning, why is it bent on introducing it? Who is pushing INEC to introduce such a dangerous process into the 2027 election?

“Nigerians are not smiling, and INEC should know that. Anything that will bring about free, fair and credible polls is what Nigerians are yearning for, not something that will call the integrity of the process into question.

“The same INEC told us that the process was still being finalised, and this is barely three months before the election. So, when is INEC going to test the process to determine its functionality, or does INEC want to use Nigerians as guinea pigs?

“Well, all I know is that everybody, from INEC to political leaders at different levels, should be very careful because the 2027 election won’t be like the elections we have had in the past. The 2027 election would determine whether Nigeria will remain one or not. So, if INEC loves Nigeria, it should drop the idea and focus on processes that would guarantee free, fair and credible polls,” he stated.

For an estate agent, My Gilmor Uwandu, the idea is a ploy to rig the election.

He questioned INEC’s knowledge of AI, saying:

“What does INEC know about AI? Why introduce something you have already admitted is prone to faking and cloning?

“Why even introduce something that has not been tested anywhere just a few months before the 2027 election? INEC has ulterior motives; it wants to rig the election for the ruling All Progressives Congress, APC.

“But that will not work. Nigerians don’t want anything that will tamper with the integrity of the election. So, INEC should forget about AI because we know what is happening,” he stated.