The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) has warned that artificial intelligence-driven disinformation could pose a serious threat to the credibility of the 2027 general elections, as the commission begins an audit of its electoral technology systems and considers conducting a mock presidential election.
INEC Chairman, Prof Joash Amupitan (SAN), disclosed this on Wednesday in Abuja, saying electoral technology and communication could no longer be treated as separate aspects of election management.
Amupitan spoke in a keynote address delivered on his behalf by a National Commissioner, Sani Adam (SAN), at the 13th Annual International Conference of the Association of Communication Scholars and Professionals of Nigeria (ACSPN).
The conference was themed, “Media, Technology and Elections in Africa: Navigating Digital Disruption and the New Dynamics of Electoral Communication.”
According to a statement signed by INEC’s Director of Voter Education and Publicity, Victoria Eta-Messi, Amupitan said the credibility of the commission increasingly depended not only on the integrity of the ballot, the Bimodal Voter Accreditation System (BVAS) and result sheets, but also on how electoral information was understood and trusted by voters.
He said the deployment of BVAS and the INEC Result Viewing Portal (IReV) was designed to address longstanding concerns about electoral transparency by allowing citizens to view polling-unit results before they were moved to collation centres.
However, he acknowledged that the 2023 general election demonstrated how electoral technology could become a source of public distrust when it failed to perform as expected.
He stressed that legitimacy could only be earned when electoral systems performed reliably, were properly understood by voters and their shortcomings were honestly explained when they occurred.
On preparations for the 2027 elections, Amupitan said INEC was conducting a comprehensive audit of its technology systems, including system redundancy, penetration testing and disaster recovery plans.
He also disclosed 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 day.
The INEC chairman raised concerns over the increasing use of generative artificial intelligence to create synthetic audio, videos and images capable of misleading voters.
He said the technology had made manipulated content cheaper to produce and increasingly difficult to detect, adding that fabricated political content had already circulated during recent electoral cycles in West and East Africa.
Amupitan warned that the threat went beyond outright fabrication to include algorithmic microtargeting, through which different and sometimes contradictory political messages could be directed at specific segments of the electorate.
He said such content could reach millions of social media users before fact-checkers or electoral authorities could verify the claims.
“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.
Amupitan further disclosed that INEC had proposed a substantial budget for technology and election operations, including new accreditation devices to replace those lost or damaged during the last electoral cycle.
He said the commission was awaiting the full release of the funds, while its ICT team had begun engagements with manufacturers and preparations for the technology audit and proposed mock election were continuing alongside budget finalisation.
He outlined a five-point strategy for strengthening INEC’s response to emerging electoral communication challenges.
The strategy includes integrating technology and communication planning; establishing a rapid-response mechanism to counter falsehoods within the same news cycle; proactively communicating known vulnerabilities and safeguards; deepening collaboration with media scholars, fact-checkers and technology platforms; and continuously investing in public media literacy.
Amupitan urged media professionals, technology experts, scholars and other stakeholders to work with INEC to strengthen public understanding and confidence in the electoral process ahead of the 2027 elections.
Titilope Adako is a talented and intrepid journalist, dedicated to shedding light on the untold stories of Osun State and Nigeria. Through incisive reporting, she tackles a broad spectrum of topics, from politics and social justice to culture and entertainment, with a commitment to accuracy, empathy, and inspiring positive change.
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