The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) has attributed the appearance of suspected artificial intelligence-generated photographs and other irregularities in its preliminary voters’ register to actions allegedly carried out by some registration officers.
The commission’s Director of Information and Communication Technology, Dr Lawrence Bayode, disclosed this on Friday, October 30, during an interview on Arise Television.
Bayode said some registration officers across the country allegedly used their authorised login details to introduce questionable records into the electoral database.
He explained that the irregularities were uncovered through the commission’s Automated Biometric Identification System (ABIS), which was deployed to examine the registration data.
“We have registration officers on the field. And these registration officers, they have login details to log into the system.
“So what we have found is that some of these registration officers, not all of them now, some of them across the states nationwide, they’ve done different things to bring these irregularities onto the register,” Bayode said.
According to him, the suspicious entries included photographs created with AI tools as well as images captured through improper registration procedures.
“Some of these pictures are AI-generated. Some of them not AI-generated, but very bad registration. And this thing got into the register by the registration officers and because they have access to register people,” he said.
The ICT director said the commission had identified the questionable records and established how some of the irregularities were introduced, although he could not determine the motives of the officers responsible.
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“When the ABIS was run on the system, we saw these people. We know what they did. We know how they did it. But honestly, I don’t know why,” he added.
Bayode also said INEC had begun efforts to sanitise the voters’ register before releasing the preliminary version, noting that the commission was working within the statutory 90-day period for the exercise.
His comments come amid public criticism following the publication of the preliminary register on INEC’s website on October 26. Images circulated on social media appeared to show photographs suspected to have been AI-generated attached to voter records in parts of Edo State.
The online publication also triggered concerns over alleged duplicate entries and complaints from some registered voters who said their details were missing.
INEC had earlier clarified that the online register was the same preliminary version displayed physically at Registration Areas across the country from October 9 to 15 as part of the Display, Claims and Objections exercise.
In a statement issued on October 27, the commission acknowledged that questionable records had been identified and flagged during the physical display. It said a review and corrective process had commenced.
The commission further explained that the register published online was not the final certified version and did not reflect all the data-cleanup activities still underway.
INEC is expected to conclude its verification, adjudication and data-cleanup processes before certifying the final Register of Voters on December 15, 2026.