The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) has confirmed that artificial intelligence-generated photographs and substandard biometric captures were introduced into the country’s preliminary voter roll by its own registration officers.
The admission follows public outrage after digital watchdogs and civil society organisations scrutinised the preliminary register uploaded to the commission’s portal on October 26, 2026. Online observers flagged multiple irregular profiles – most notably within polling units in Etsako West Local Government Area of Edo State – featuring hyper-realistic facial portraits showing structural anomalies typical of synthetic image generation. The disclosures prompted electoral integrity groups, including the Policy and Legal Advocacy Centre, to raise concerns regarding database credibility and the circumvention of mandatory live facial captures required during Continuous Voter Registration.
Appearing on television on Friday, October 30, 2026, the commission’s Director of Information and Communication Technology, Dr Lawrence Bayode, clarified that the compromise was neither an external cyberattack nor a system breach. Bayode explained that field registration officers exploited their authorized administrative credentials to feed flawed records directly into the database.
While confirming that forensic audit logs tracked precisely which officers committed the infractions and how the data was uploaded, Bayode noted that the underlying motive remains unexplained. He added that while several flagged entries were synthetic portraits, others resulted from irregular registration procedures tolerated by field operators.
The electoral umpire urged the public to remain calm, emphasising that publishing the roll was a statutory requirement under Section 19 of the Electoral Act designed specifically to elicit claims, objections, and public scrutiny. The commission stated that automated biometric identification cross-checks and adjudications are actively underway to scrub all duplicate profiles, unverified names, and synthetic photographs before the final, certified Register of Voters is produced on December 15, 2026.
