2027: Citizens, not algorithms will decide vote – INEC Chairman

The Chairman of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), Prof. Joash Amupitan, SAN, has declared that algorithms will not decide the 2027 General Elections, assuring Nigerians that the Commission has put structures in place to ensure that artificial intelligence (AI) serves the democratic process and does not control it.

Prof. Amupitan gave the assurance on Wednesday 14th October, 2026, in Abuja while delivering the keynote address at the Artificial Intelligence and Democracy Forum 2026, held in collaboration with Yiaga Africa.

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Speaking on the guiding question of the opening plenary, “Will Algorithms Decide the 2027 Vote?”, the Chairman said the answer was an unequivocal no.

“Algorithms will not, and must never, decide the 2027 vote,” he said, explaining that the choice of who leads Nigeria belongs exclusively to the Nigerian people.

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He noted that the Forum, themed “Safeguarding the 2027 General Elections in the Age of Artificial Intelligence”, was taking place exactly ninety-two days before the general elections, at a time when the digital landscape had shifted significantly since 2023.

According to him, the Commission is no longer dealing only with the “analogue” challenges of logistics but with a world in which AI can influence what a voter sees, how the voter thinks and how the voter trusts.

The INEC Chairman, however, cautioned that a simple “no” should not conceal the disruptive power of the technology.

He said AI would shape the information environment in which citizens form their choices, influence the speed and security of electoral logistics, and alter the tactics of both democratic actors and anti-democratic disruptors.

“The greatest threat we face is not the hacking of a ballot box, but the hacking of the voter’s mind,” Prof. Amupitan stated.

He said generative AI had reduced to near zero the cost of producing convincing deepfakes, including videos of candidates saying things they never said and of INEC officials giving false instructions.

“If a voter cannot distinguish between truth and a synthetic lie, the foundation of informed consent crumbles,” he said.

The INEC Chairman warned that a well-timed deepfake video or cloned audio recording of a candidate, an election official or a security chief could announce a false candidate withdrawal, a postponement of the election or inflammatory ethnoreligious statements, and spread virally within minutes.

He added that malicious actors could also impersonate the INEC Chairman, Resident Electoral Commissioners (RECs) and other officials to issue fake guidelines, declare unauthorised results or instruct voters to stay home.

On the Commission’s response, Prof. Amupitan disclosed that INEC had created an AI Unit within its ICT Directorate, equipped with real-time digital monitoring tools, deepfake detection software and data analytics expertise to track technical threats and information manipulation targeting the electoral process.

He affirmed, as a foundational policy, that no critical electoral decision, result collation, voter accreditation or candidate qualification would ever be fully automated or delegated to an autonomous system.

“Human accountability, statutory oversight and judicial review will remain paramount at every stage of the electoral chain,” he said.

The INEC Chairman further stated that any AI tool or automated system deployed by the Commission for logistics, database management or operational support must undergo rigorous audits to guarantee explainability, fairness and security before deployment.

He said the Commission was also working on a Digital Strategy to audit the information environment, and was partnering with technology platforms for the rapid debunking and labelling of AI-generated content touching on electoral processes.

Prof. Amupitan stressed that the Commission did not view AI only through the prism of risk, noting that public discourse on the subject often defaulted to alarmism.

According to him, an overemphasis on threats risked obscuring the opportunities the technology offered to improve election administration and deepen participation.

He described AI as a powerful force multiplier for administrative precision, predictive planning and institutional integrity.

On logistics, he said AI-driven geospatial analytics could help INEC deploy ad-hoc staff, vehicles, boats and sensitive materials to 176,846 polling units before 7:30 a.m. on election day, by analysing traffic patterns, weather forecasts, road conditions and security incidents to generate optimal routes.

He added that automated inventory systems could forecast demand for non-sensitive materials and monitor warehouse stock in real time.

On electoral integrity, the INEC Chairman said that while human collation remained the statutory standard for declaring results, AI could perform parallel statistical audits on polling unit result sheets uploaded through the eEC8A, flagging mathematical inconsistencies, atypical entry patterns and image quality defects for administrative review.

He said AI-enhanced Automated Biometric Identification Systems (ABIS) were also accelerating the detection of facial and fingerprint duplicates in the National Register of Voters, which holds over 103 million records, to protect the principle of “one voter, one vote.”

He further said Natural Language Processing tools could translate voter education materials, polling unit locators and Permanent Voters Card (PVC) collection guidelines into dozens of indigenous languages, including audio formats for visually impaired and low-literacy citizens, while automated tools could help map accessibility barriers for Persons with Disabilities (PWDs).

The INEC Chairman added that AI-driven threat detection could protect the Commission’s digital platforms, including the INEC Result Viewing Portal (IReV) and the INEC Candidates Nomination Portal (ICNP), by identifying and isolating cyber threats in milliseconds.

Professor Amupitan said these innovations were building on a decade of technological reforms, including the Smart Card Reader (SCR), the Bimodal Voter Accreditation System (BVAS) and IReV, which he said had eliminated legacy vulnerabilities such as ballot box stuffing, manual accreditation fraud and arbitrary result manipulation.

He disclosed that the Commission had digitised candidate nominations, processing over 15,000 nominations across 22 political parties, introduced online voter registration for the first time in Nigeria, and was executing a decentralised, multi-phased PVC collection exercise nationwide.

He added that additional BVAS units had been procured, with consignments already being received.

On the scale of the exercise, the INEC Chairman said the 2027 General Election would be the largest democratic exercise on the African continent, involving over 103 million registered voters across 774 Local Government Areas, and that ten of the 14 major operational milestones under the Electoral Act 2026 had been successfully executed.

Prof. Amupitan stressed that safeguarding the election could not be the responsibility of INEC alone.

He called on technology companies, including Meta, X, Google, TikTok and Telegram, to rapidly restrict unlabelled synthetic media impersonating election officials, candidates or security personnel, enforce disclaimers on political advertisements, and restrict micro-targeting based on ethnicity, religion or local origin.

He proposed the expansion of an Electoral Information Integrity Coalition comprising INEC, civil society organisations, the Nigerian Guild of Editors, the Nigeria Fact-Checking Coalition (NFCC), media houses and telecom operators, to serve as an early-warning network against viral AI-generated falsehoods.

According to him, INEC will also work with the National Orientation Agency (NOA), civil society and the media to incorporate AI media literacy into voter education, so that citizens can “pause, verify, and confirm” before sharing sensational content.

He added that the Commission had just introduced the INEC Campus Debate on Nigeria Electoral Process and Democracy in universities, to engage young people as digital integrity ambassadors.

The INEC Chairman urged political parties and candidates to sign an Ethical AI Code of Conduct, committing to refrain from deploying deepfakes, synthetic impersonation, dark ads or automated botnets.

He urged civil society and development partners to audit algorithmic transparency and track digital campaign spending, while security agencies were asked to build specialised capacity in cybercrime investigation and digital forensics within the bounds of the rule of law.

He said the judiciary should prepare for novel disputes involving AI-generated evidence, and media organisations should establish internal digital forensic desks to verify user-generated content before publication.

Prof. Amupitan said algorithms had no moral compass, no civic duty and no constitutional oath, adding that “they do not have a conscience, they do not have a country, and they do not have a vote.”

“On election day in 2027, it will be the thumbprint of the Nigerian citizen, guided by their own will and their own hopes, that decides our future,” he said.

“INEC’s job is to ensure that the voice of the people is heard clearly, above the noise of the machines,” he added.

He thanked the Economic Community of West African States Network of Electoral Commissions (ECONEC), Yiaga Africa and international partners for supporting the Forum.

The two-day forum was attended by the Chairperson of ECONEC and Chairman of the Senegal Electoral Commission, Mr Abdoulaye Sylla, as well as National Commissioners, RECs, representatives of election management bodies across Africa, political party leaders, civil society organisations, security agencies, technology firms and the media.

The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) has clarified the circumstances surrounding the omission of some candidates from the final list for the 2027 Governorship election, stating that the decision followed a recent judgement of the Supreme Court.

In a press statement issued on Tuesday, 13th October 2026, National Commissioner and Chairman, Information and Voter Education Committee, Mohammed Kudu Haruna, said the Commission applied the apex court’s decision in finalising the list of Governorship candidates.

He recalled that the Supreme Court delivered its judgement in INEC v. Zenith Labour Party, Appeal No. SC/CV/495/2026, on 24th September 2026.

According to him, the decision arose from the Commission’s appeal against the judgement of the Court of Appeal, which had nullified Section 77(5)-(7) of the Electoral Act, 2026. The provisions require political parties to submit their membership registers as a prerequisite for conducting valid party primaries.

Commissioner Haruna said the Supreme Court, in its judgement, held that the provisions of Section 77(5)-(7) of the Electoral Act, 2026 are constitutional and mandatory for all political parties.

He noted that the Court specifically upheld the constitutionality of Item No. 2 of the Commission’s Timetable and Schedule of Activities, which required political parties to submit their membership registers between 21st April and 10th May 2026.

The National Commissioner added that the Court further held that failure to comply with the provisions renders a defaulting political party ineligible to sponsor any candidate for the election.

“In accordance with Section 287(1) of the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, 1999 (as amended), the Commission, while finalizing the list of candidates for the Governorship election, applied the above decision of the Supreme Court,” he said.

He explained that, as a result, political parties that failed to comply with Section 77(5)-(7) of the Electoral Act, 2026 were excluded from fielding candidates in the Governorship election.

Commissioner Haruna further stated that the final list of Presidential and National Assembly candidates had already been published on 12th September 2026, thirteen days before the Supreme Court delivered its judgement.

He reminded political parties that, under Section 32(2) of the Electoral Act, 2026, a party that believes its candidate was wrongly left off the list has 14 days from the date of publication to notify the Commission. According to him, the deadline is 24th October 2026.

The National Commissioner reiterated the Commission’s commitment to transparency, the rule of law and the credibility of the electoral process.

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