INEC flags 268 voter records over suspected AI photos
- INEC says its biometric system caught 268 entries in the preliminary voter register with suspected AI-made or irregular photographs.
- The ICT director says pictures only enhanced by phone apps will stay, while fully AI-generated ones will be deleted.
- The commission plans to certify the final register on December 15, 2026, ahead of the 2027 elections.
The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) has marked 268 entries in its preliminary voter register for a closer look, after its biometric system raised doubts about their photographs and other details.
The commission's Director of Information and Communication Technology, Lawrence Bayode, gave the figure on Channels Television's Sunday Politics, saying the Automated Biometric Identification System (ABIS) had already singled out the records.
He said the flagged entries are now being checked one by one to confirm which ones carry pictures made entirely by artificial intelligence or show other forms of tampering, before they are dealt with.
Bayode also pointed to a registration window meant for people with disabilities who have few or no fingers. According to him, some people allegedly used that provision and official credentials to create questionable voter profiles, and the biometric system picked this up.
Not every AI-enhanced photo will be removed
The ICT director drew a line between two kinds of images. A real photograph that a phone app has merely sharpened or touched up will not cost the voter a place on the register, he said.
Pictures that were generated by AI rather than taken of a real person will be taken out, and work on that has started, he added.
The uproar began after INEC put the preliminary register online on October 26. Screenshots of odd-looking photographs, some said to be from parts of Edo State, spread on social media, alongside complaints about duplicate entries, names of dead people and voters who could not find their details.
INEC has said the online version is the same document it displayed at Registration Areas nationwide from October 9 to 15, and that it is not the final certified register. The display, claims and objections stage, the commission said, exists so Nigerians can point out errors and challenge suspicious entries before certification.
INEC Chairman Prof Joash Amupitan has said the records are being examined and that action will follow verified findings.
Public figures have demanded more than assurances. Rabiu Kwankwaso, vice-presidential candidate of the Nigeria Democratic Congress, called for a thorough, transparent and independent investigation, with findings made public and anyone found culpable held to account. Political economist Pat Utomi said the presence of AI-generated images in the register raised serious questions about verification and accountability.
Clement Nwankwo of the Policy and Legal Advocacy Centre questioned the jump in registered voters from more than 90 million to 103 million, and warned that gaps in registration and polling unit transfers could leave eligible voters unable to cast a ballot.
What happens next
INEC says it will finish verifying, adjudicating and cleaning the data before certifying the final Register of Voters on December 15, 2026. For ordinary Nigerians, the register is the document that decides who can vote in 2027, so how the flagged cases are resolved will shape trust in the process.
