NDC questions INEC readiness for AI use in 2027 elections

The Nigeria Democratic Congress has criticised the Independent National Electoral Commission’s proposed deployment of artificial intelligence in the 2027 elections, while also raising concerns about access to records from the 2023 polls. NDC National Publicity Secretary Osa Director described INEC as the greatest threat to Nigeria’s democracy and called for pressure on the commission to deliver a free, fair, transparent and credible election. His comments followed a report by MundX Analytics, a Nigerian elections data and analytics company, about the accessibility of 2023 results on INEC’s Results Viewing Portal.

MundX alleged that a domain used to deliver polling-unit result sheets had expired and been acquired by a private firm. The company said some links to IReV results redirected users to advertising websites, affecting access to a large number of records. It characterised the issue as a failure to protect access to a public election record.

INEC has maintained that the 2023 results were intact and securely stored on Amazon Web Services. The reported difficulty nevertheless renewed concerns about the preservation and accessibility of electronic election records before the next general election. Director also opposed the planned AI deployment, questioning whether INEC had the capacity to control the technology effectively.

The Obidient Movement separately rejected the plan and asked the commission to explain how the system would work, what problems it would solve and what safeguards would prevent abuse. INEC Chairman Prof Joash Amupitan has said the commission is using AI tools to identify discrepancies and administrative errors in results. He also said the commission was working to counter AI-generated disinformation, including fabricated result sheets, cloned voices, fake videos and forged official documents.

Amupitan said INEC had established an AI Division within its ICT Department and developed a roadmap and governance framework based on human oversight, transparency, accountability, data protection, cybersecurity and public trust. The commission says AI will complement rather than replace human supervision. According to Amupitan, automated checks will remain subject to human auditing and legal verification.