Nigeria's electoral commission is under growing pressure after AI-generated voter information and ID photos were found on a draft electoral roll, Semafor reported on Wednesday. Critics say the discovery casts doubt on January's presidential election. The vote is just over 10 weeks away.
More than 103 million Nigerians have registered to vote, according to the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC). President Bola Tinubu is seeking re-election against a slate of familiar rivals. According to Semafor, the campaign has centred on the economy and security.
INEC said the register is a temporary document open to review for errors. It said it would look into "possible technical or procedural lapses" that let the AI-generated entries in. A senior official blamed rogue staff and said the commission "doesn't know why" they would use their logins to tamper with the roll.
Advocacy groups, technology analysts and former INEC officials are calling for an independent inquiry. Kolawole Oluwadare, a senior official at the Lagos-based rights group SERAP, told Semafor that INEC wants to play the problem down as a cleanup. He said the matter goes beyond what INEC can handle in-house and needs an audit by an external body.
Martin Uwakwe, a US-based technology analyst who reviewed the draft roll, told Semafor he also found duplicates and dead people on the register. He said INEC could use Nigeria's existing identity database to verify voter data. He warned that anyone with back-end access could manipulate the BVAS devices used to accredit voters on election day. "If the people with access are compromised, it becomes an issue," he said.
Turnout is already a concern. The 2023 vote drew just 27% of voters, the lowest since Nigeria returned to democratic rule in 1999. Critics warn the false data could deepen cynicism and keep even more voters at home.
Technology also failed to deliver in 2023, Semafor noted. BVAS devices malfunctioned on a large scale, and poor signal delayed accreditation and results. Only about a third of results were visible on INEC's website two days after voting ended. Legal challenges to Tinubu's victory failed after courts ruled that INEC did not have to publish results electronically.