The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) has called for the integration of electoral technology and communication as a single discipline ahead of the 2027 General Election, warning that artificial intelligence-driven disinformation poses a major threat to the credibility of Nigeria’s electoral process.
INEC Chairman, Prof. Joash Amupitan, SAN, made the call in a keynote address delivered on his behalf by National Commissioner Sani Adam, SAN, at the 13th Annual International Conference of the Association of Communication Scholars & Professionals of Nigeria (ACSPN) in Abuja on Wednesday, September 2, 2026.
The conference was held under the theme, “Media, Technology and Elections in Africa: Navigating Digital Disruption and the New Dynamics of Electoral Communication.”
Amupitan said the credibility of INEC now depends not only on the integrity of the ballot, the Bimodal Voter Accreditation System (BVAS) and result sheets, but also on how information about electoral processes is communicated, understood and trusted by citizens.
He explained that the deployment of BVAS and the INEC Result Viewing Portal (IReV) was intended to address longstanding concerns about the credibility and transparency of elections by allowing citizens to view polling-unit results before their transmission to collation centres.
However, he acknowledged that the 2023 General Election demonstrated how electoral technology could also become a source of public distrust when systems underperform or are poorly understood.
According to him, electoral legitimacy can only be strengthened when technology systems perform reliably, voters understand how they work and electoral authorities communicate openly when problems occur.
INEC Audits Electoral Technology Ahead of 2027
Amupitan disclosed that INEC is conducting a comprehensive audit of its electoral technology systems, including system redundancy, penetration testing and disaster-recovery planning.
He also said the Commission is exploring the possibility of conducting a mock presidential election ahead of 2027 to test voter accreditation, result transmission and result viewing under conditions similar to election day.
On the growing threat of synthetic content, the INEC chairman warned that generative artificial intelligence has made manipulated videos, audio recordings and images cheaper to produce and increasingly difficult to detect.
He said fabricated political content could reach millions of social media users before verification is completed, while algorithmic microtargeting could allow different groups of voters to receive conflicting messages without a common factual foundation.
The chairman said the challenge was therefore not limited to fake content but also involved the speed and scale at which misleading information could influence public opinion.
INEC Seeks Faster Response to Disinformation
As part of preparations for the 2027 election, Amupitan said INEC had proposed a substantial budget with significant allocations for election technology and operations, including new accreditation devices to replace those lost or damaged during the last electoral cycle.
He said the Commission was still awaiting full release of the funds but that its ICT team had already engaged manufacturers on procurement, while preparations for the technology audit and proposed mock election were continuing alongside budget finalisation.
The INEC chairman outlined a five-point approach to strengthen the electoral process. It includes integrating technology and communication planning, establishing a rapid-response mechanism for falsehoods, communicating proactively about known vulnerabilities and safeguards, deepening partnerships with media scholars, fact-checkers and technology platforms, and investing continuously in public media literacy.
He also commended INEC’s collaboration with international partners on cybersecurity architecture and system resilience, while inviting communication scholars to work with the Commission on media literacy research, synthetic-content detection and training for journalists and civic educators.
Amupitan noted that Nigeria’s 2027 electorate would be younger and more dependent on mobile technology than previous electorates, making smartphones a major channel through which many voters would experience the election.
He, however, stressed that solutions developed elsewhere must be adapted to Nigeria’s realities, including differences in internet access, language and institutional trust.
He said INEC’s response to disinformation would be to provide better and faster information rather than restrict legitimate journalism or civic dissent.
INEC Dismisses NDC’s ‘Smuggled Candidates’ Allegation
Meanwhile, INEC has dismissed as unfounded allegations by the Nigeria Democratic Congress (NDC) that the Commission removed the party’s validly nominated candidates for some State House of Assembly constituencies in Anambra and Benue States and replaced them with unauthorised names.
In a statement issued by the Chairman of the Information and Voter Education Committee (IVEC), Mohammed Kudu Haruna, on Tuesday, September 1, the Commission said candidate nomination was the exclusive responsibility of political parties under the law.
Haruna explained that INEC’s role in monitoring party primaries was limited to statutory oversight and did not give the Commission the power to select, impose or substitute candidates for political parties.
He said that ahead of the 2027 General Election, all 22 registered political parties designated two technically trained officers to manage their nomination processes following training organised by INEC.
According to him, portal access codes were issued directly to the National Chairmen of the respective parties and not through proxies.
He added that each party’s candidate list was generated from information submitted by the party and jointly signed by its National Chairman and National Secretary in accordance with Form EC9 series (A–G).
Haruna said INEC was also in possession of Form EC9E containing the candidates in question, duly signed and submitted by the party’s National Chairman and National Secretary.
He therefore rejected claims that INEC independently uploaded, altered or substituted candidate information.
The Commission reaffirmed its commitment to transparency, accountability and a level playing field for all political parties and other stakeholders ahead of the 2027 General Election.
