Nigeria's Election Body Faces Pressure Over AI-Generated Data on Voter Roll

Nigeria's Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) is facing intense pressure to address the discovery of AI-generated voter information and ID photos on a draft electoral roll. This finding has sparked serious concerns about the integrity of next January's presidential vote and risks further undermining faith in the politics of Africa's largest democracy.

According to Semafor, with just over 10 weeks until the vote, President Bola Tinubu is locked into a re-election battle against familiar rivals. More than 103 million Nigerians registered to take part in the poll, but INEC's numbers and overall preparations have come under intense scrutiny. Advocacy groups, technology analysts, and former INEC officials have led calls for an independent inquiry to identify how fabricated information came to be included. Many have warned that the false data would add to cynicism about the organizer's commitment to a fair election and weaken voter participation.

In response to the backlash, INEC said the contentious register is a temporary document open to review for errors and stated it would look into 'possible technical or procedural lapses' that allowed AI intrusions. A senior official blamed rogue staff, saying the commission 'doesn't know why' they would use their logins to tamper with the roll. However, analysts say these responses are unsatisfactory given the gravity of the situation. Kolawole Oluwadare, a senior official at Lagos-based rights group SERAP, told Semafor: 'This goes beyond what INEC can handle in house, which is why we are calling for an audit by an external body.'

Martin Uwakwe, a US-based technology analyst who reviewed the draft roll, found several errors in the register beyond the AI-generated issues, including duplicates and the presence of people who had died. He noted that the electoral commission could use Nigeria's existing identity database to authenticate voter data and ensure integrity. 'These things are very easy to do but I don't know why we are still having this conversation in 2026,' he told Semafor.