The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) has launched a comprehensive technical investigation into allegations of suspected artificial intelligence (AI)-generated portraits and duplicate entries discovered within the preliminary register of voters.
The probe follows intense public outrage after the electoral umpire published the preliminary voter database on its official online portal on 26 October 2026. Citizens and civil society organisations raised alarms over severe discrepancies in the roll, citing identical photographic facial captures assigned to different registered names, duplicate entries carrying the same National Identification Numbers (NIN), and records matching deceased individuals. The revelations triggered widespread apprehension regarding the integrity of the database ahead of the 2027 general elections.
Defending the commission’s procedures, INEC National Commissioner Mohammed Kudu Haruna clarified that the records hosted on the public portal represent the unedited, raw preliminary register that was previously displayed physically across registration centres between 9 and 15 October 2026.
Haruna explained that the primary purpose of displaying the raw roll both physically and digitally is to allow citizens, political parties, and observers to scrutinise entries and file statutory claims and objections. He noted that the commission’s internal technical and ICT audit teams had already flagged several suspicious registrations during automated background checks, adding that the uploaded raw data does not yet reflect the automated cleanup process.
INEC says that its technical review is examining the source of the questionable registrations to identify systemic vulnerabilities and determine whether registration officials or external actors compromised enrollment systems. The commission assured that all illegitimate entries, cloned photographs, and invalid records will be scrubbed, promising that a certified and clean Register of Voters will be published on 15th December, 2026 alongside sanctions for any compromised personnel.
