By: Goodluck E. Adubazi, Abuja.
With 92 days to the 2027 general elections, the Chairman of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), Prof. Joash Amupitan, has declared that artificial intelligence (AI) will not determine the outcome of the elections, insisting that the power to elect Nigeria’s leaders rests exclusively with the Nigerian people.
Amupitan said INEC was strengthening its technological safeguards and collaborating with technology companies and other stakeholders to combat AI-generated misinformation, deepfakes and other digital threats capable of undermining electoral integrity.
The INEC chairman made the declaration on Wednesday in Abuja while delivering the keynote address at the AI and Democracy Forum organised by Yiaga Africa in partnership with Microsoft, Google, Dataphyte, Luminate, the Centre for Journalism Innovation and Development (CJID), GIZ and other partners.
The forum, themed “Will Algorithms Determine the 2027 Vote? Safeguarding Nigeria’s 2027 General Elections in the Age of Artificial Intelligence,” brought together electoral officials, technology experts, civil society organisations and other stakeholders to examine the implications of AI for Nigeria’s democratic process.
“Will algorithms decide the 2027 vote? No, algorithms should not and must never decide the 2027 vote,” Amupitan declared, stressing that the choice of leaders belongs to Nigerians through their votes.
According to him, the constitutional sovereignty of the Nigerian people must remain the foundation of the electoral process, regardless of advances in technology.
He explained that Nigeria’s electoral challenges were moving beyond the traditional concerns of logistics and the security of election portals to include attempts to manipulate voters’ perceptions, influence their decisions and erode public confidence in democratic institutions.
“In 2027, what we are facing is the hacking of voters’ minds, not the hacking of portals,” he said.
Amupitan warned that AI was already reshaping the information environment in which citizens form political opinions, making it necessary for electoral authorities to strengthen their capacity to detect and respond to emerging digital threats.
He noted that while AI presented opportunities to improve election administration, it could also be exploited by individuals and groups seeking to spread false information, manipulate public opinion and disrupt the electoral process.
The INEC chairman disclosed that the commission was partnering with technology platforms to ensure the rapid debunking of misinformation and the identification and labelling of AI-generated content relating to electoral processes.
He added that INEC was working with the International Foundation for Electoral Systems (IFES) and other partners to develop a framework for the responsible governance of AI in election administration.
As part of the measures, Amupitan announced plans to establish an AI unit within INEC and adopt a human-oversight policy to ensure that critical electoral decisions remain under human control.
He stressed that decisions concerning results collation, voter accreditation and candidates’ qualifications would not be fully automated or delegated to autonomous systems.
“Human accountability, statutory oversight and judicial review will remain paramount at every stage of the electoral system,” he said.
Amupitan also emphasised the need for transparency and public auditing of AI tools deployed by the commission, explaining that systems used for logistics, database management and operational support would undergo rigorous assessments to establish their fairness, security and explainability before deployment.
He maintained that safeguarding Nigeria’s democracy against algorithmic threats could not be left to INEC alone, calling for a coordinated approach involving security agencies, technology companies, regulatory bodies, civil society organisations, fact-checkers and the media.
Highlighting the scale of the forthcoming elections, Amupitan said Nigeria was preparing for one of the largest and most complex democratic exercises on the African continent.
He disclosed that the country had more than 103 million registered voters expected to participate in the electoral process across 176,846 polling units in the 36 states and the Federal Capital Territory.
The elections will take place across 774 local government areas, including urban centres, remote riverine communities and areas with difficult terrain.
According to him, INEC must deploy election personnel, vehicles, boats and sensitive materials across the country while ensuring that eligible voters, including persons with disabilities and those displaced by insecurity, are not disenfranchised.
He announced that the presidential and National Assembly elections would hold on January 16, 2027, while governorship and State Houses of Assembly elections were scheduled for February 6, 2027.
Amupitan further disclosed that INEC had completed 10 of the 14 major activities outlined in its election timetable, despite the strict statutory deadlines established by the Electoral Act 2026.
He said the commission had also procured additional Bimodal Voter Accreditation System (BVAS) machines to strengthen its operational capacity ahead of the elections.
The INEC chairman revealed that the commission’s digital candidate nomination portal had processed more than 15,000 nominations across 22 political parties, reducing dependence on manual procedures.
He also highlighted the introduction of online voter registration and the decentralised collection of Permanent Voter Cards (PVCs) as measures designed to improve access to the electoral process.
Amupitan said the commission had continued to explore technology-assisted logistics planning, predictive modelling and geospatial analytics to improve the deployment of election materials and personnel.
According to him, the use of these tools had contributed to improvements in the early deployment of materials and the timely commencement of voting during elections conducted under his leadership.
He added that AI-assisted analysis could help INEC anticipate weather disruptions, identify difficult routes and address logistical challenges before they affect election-day operations.
The chairman also identified automated auditing and anomaly detection as potential tools for strengthening electoral integrity, particularly in examining accreditation records and election-result data.
However, he cautioned that technological innovation must remain subject to appropriate safeguards, stressing that technology should serve democracy rather than control it.
Quoting the English philosopher Francis Bacon, Amupitan compared technology to a powerful instrument that must remain under human control.
“Our task, therefore, at this forum and within the commission is to ensure that AI remains a servant of democracy and not its master,” he said.
In his welcome remarks, Yiaga Africa’s Executive Director, Sam Itodo, said only INEC had the legal authority to declare election results and winners, although other stakeholders could independently aggregate results to monitor the process.
He encouraged civil society organisations, election observers and technology developers to continue deploying independent tools to track results and promote transparency in election management.
Itodo, however, cautioned organisations developing AI-powered platforms for results aggregation to adhere to the principles of integrity, transparency and auditability.
He warned that inaccurate information circulated through such platforms could fuel political instability and undermine public confidence in election outcomes.
According to him, organisations involved in results aggregation must ensure that the data they collect and publish are accurate and that their methodologies are open to public scrutiny.
He cited Yiaga Africa’s Process and Results Verification for Transparency (PRVT) methodology and its election results analysis dashboard, which tracks results uploaded to INEC’s Result Viewing Portal (IReV), as examples of tools used to monitor electoral processes.
Itodo also stressed that AI-powered systems deployed for election monitoring must be auditable to enable stakeholders to verify their operations and build public trust.
He called on INEC to sustain transparency and openness throughout the electoral process, noting that greater access to reliable information could improve the acceptance of election outcomes.
The forum forms part of broader efforts by electoral authorities, civil society organisations and technology companies to address the opportunities and risks associated with AI ahead of Nigeria’s 2027 general elections.
