The Independent National Electoral Commission has warned that artificial intelligence-driven disinformation could pose a serious threat to Nigeria’s 2027 general elections.
INEC Chairman, Prof Joash Amupitan, said advances in generative artificial intelligence had made it easier and cheaper to produce misleading audio, video and images capable of influencing voters.
He made the remarks during the 13th Annual International Conference of the Association of Communication Scholars and Professionals of Nigeria in Abuja.
Amupitan said election credibility would depend not only on the integrity of voting and result-management systems but also on whether Nigerians could understand and trust information about the electoral process.
He noted that technologies such as the Bimodal Voter Accreditation System and the INEC Result Viewing Portal were introduced to improve transparency, but stressed that technology could also create public doubt when systems failed or were poorly explained.
Ahead of the 2027 elections, INEC is conducting a comprehensive audit of its electoral technology systems, including redundancy, penetration testing and disaster recovery arrangements.
The commission is also considering a mock presidential election to test voter accreditation, result transmission and result viewing under conditions similar to an actual election.
Amupitan warned that AI-generated political content could spread rapidly across social media before fact-checkers or electoral authorities have enough time to verify it.
He also highlighted algorithmic microtargeting, which can allow different groups of voters to receive conflicting political messages, potentially creating an election environment without a shared factual basis.
INEC has proposed additional funding for election technology, including new accreditation devices to replace equipment lost or damaged during the previous election cycle.
The commission is also planning stronger collaboration with media organisations, fact-checkers, technology platforms and communication experts.
Amupitan said INEC could no longer treat electoral technology and communication as separate issues and urged Nigerians to work with the commission to strengthen public understanding and trust ahead of the 2027 elections.
