INEC Receives 5,400 Claims, Objections to Voter Register, Targets December 15 for Clean-up

·         Admits registration officers introduced AI-generated images, irregularities

·         Amupitan: Commission has no preferred candidate, party for 2027 elections

·         Atiku, ADC Demand Independent Forensic Audit, Allege Sabotage

Chuks Okocha, Adedayo Akinwale and Erizia Rubyjeana in Abuja

The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) yesterday disclosed that it had received more than 4,800 claims and about 600 objections to the Preliminary Register of Voters, as it assured Nigerians that the cleaning of the register would be completed before December 15, 2026.

The development comes amid concerns over the discovery of Artificial Intelligence (AI)-generated photographs and other irregularities in the preliminary register, with the Commission admitting that some registration officers were responsible for introducing suspicious entries into the database.

However, the African Democratic Congress (ADC) and its presidential candidate, former Vice President Atiku Abubakar, have demanded a full explanation of how the photographs entered the register, the identification of officials responsible and an independent forensic audit of the database.

INEC Chairman, Prof. Joash Amupitan, disclosed the number of claims and objections while receiving the ECOWAS Pre-Election Fact-Finding Mission at the Commission’s headquarters in Abuja.

Amupitan, in a statement issued yesterday by INEC Director of Voter Education and Publicity, Mrs. Victoria Eta-Messi, said the Commission was working to ensure that all claims and objections were addressed before the Final Register of Voters was certified on December 15, 2026.

He said: “The objections were received from the various wards through electoral officers and Resident Electoral Commissioners.

“The display of the register online is also confirming some of the complaints we had earlier received.”

He said the Commission has no preferred candidate or political party in the 2027 elections.

“Our sole allegiance is to the rule of law, the sovereign will of the Nigerian electorate, and the democratic progress of our nation,” he added.

The Chairman explained that given the size of the register, which now stands at over 103 million registered citizens, any discrepancies noticed during the display would be corrected ahead of the final release.

He also announced that the Commission planned a nationwide mock accreditation exercise in November to test accreditation and result transmission simultaneously in all states.

Amupitan said INEC had introduced a safeguard whereby results would be authenticated at the polling unit before they were transmitted to the INEC Result Viewing Portal (IReV).

He explained that when he assumed office, the question was whether to introduce a different technology, but that was not an option given the timeline, so the Commission focused on improving the existing system.

On its preparedness for the 2027 general election, he said the Commission had visited the South-west in Lagos, the North-west in Kaduna, the South-east in Enugu and, earlier in the week, the North-east in Gombe, with the North-central zone scheduled for a visit the following week.

He emphasised that the tours had already led to adjustments, particularly in areas requiring higher deployments because of terrain and security challenges.

The chairman also said the Commission was perfecting plans for Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) “to ensure inclusivity, that no one is completely excluded.”

Earlier, the leader of the ECOWAS mission and former Vice-President of Sierra Leone, Victor Bockarie Foh, said the mission was deployed on the strength of the Supplementary Protocol on Democracy and Good Governance, Article 53C of the ECOWAS Conflict Prevention Framework, and “the authority of heads of state decision to send pre-election fact-finding missions to member states holding elections.”

Meanwhile, INEC’s Director of Information and Communication Technology (ICT), Dr. Lawrence Bayode, said the Commission would complete the cleaning of the preliminary register before December 15, 2026, following the discovery of AI-generated photographs and other irregularities during the public display.

Bayode gave the assurance during an interview on ARISE NEWS, saying the final register would address the anomalies identified by INEC and members of the public.

Speaking on the irregularities, he said the Commission was reviewing the entries and was confident that the final register would reflect the necessary corrections.

“So, we are working on that, we are cleaning up the register and we believe that the register that will be released on the 15th of December will have taken care of all this AI-generated or other irregularity pictures that we have also seen on the register,” he said.

He explained that although the Commission had deployed AI-powered chatbots for public enquiries and logistics support, it had not used the technology for voter registration.

“Like in logistics, we are deploying chatbots where people can ask questions and the AI will respond to them, deploy it in logistics to ease our logistics movement when it comes to moving materials from one location to the other,” he said.

Bayode attributed the irregularities to the actions of some registration officers who had access to the voter registration system.

“And this thing got into the register by the registration officers, because they have access to register people,” he said.

He added that the Commission’s findings showed that the problem was not restricted to locations whose suspicious entries had attracted attention on social media, but involved some registration officers across the country.

“What we have found out is that some of these registration officers, not only the place that we are seeing even on social media, some of them, not all of them now, some of them across the states nationwide, they have done different things to bring these irregularities onto the register,” he said.

The ICT director said INEC had identified how some of the irregularities were introduced into the system, although he could not explain the motive of the officers involved.

“When the ABs 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 maintained that INEC had not deployed AI for voter registration, despite the appearance of AI-generated photographs on the preliminary register. He also assured Nigerians that the Commission had removed the irregularities identified by its officials and members of the public.

“I can assure you that all these irregularities that we have seen and that the Nigerians have seen, we have removed them from the register,” he said.

The preliminary register was displayed at registration areas between October 9 and 15 for public scrutiny. The exercise attracted concerns over suspicious photographs and other errors in the database.

Bayode said the preliminary register had recorded an increase of more than nine million voters over the 93 million registered voters used for the 2023 general election.

Atiku Demands Disclosure, Independent Audit

Reacting to the development, Atiku called on INEC to explain how AI-generated photographs and other questionable entries found their way into the register, identify those who submitted them and disclose the verification procedures they underwent.

In a statement issued by his media adviser, Paul Ibe, the former vice-president said the Commission’s description of the register as preliminary did not adequately address the circumstances that allowed the suspicious records into its database.

“With more than 103 million registered voters, Nigerians deserve precise answers: how many records are affected, what percentage of the register do they represent, and where are they concentrated?” he asked.

Atiku said public scrutiny of the preliminary register was important but could not replace effective verification by the electoral commission.

“But describing the register as ‘preliminary’ does not answer how those records entered the system in the first place. Public scrutiny is a safeguard; it cannot substitute for effective verification by the electoral umpire,” he said.

He warned that the discovery of suspicious photographs could raise questions about other possible anomalies, including duplicate identities, underage registrations and fictitious entries.

According to him, the Commission must demonstrate that the vulnerabilities in its database had been addressed before the 2027 elections.

Atiku therefore urged INEC to publish the number and geographical distribution of flagged records, explain how they entered the register, preserve the audit trail and allow an independent forensic audit involving political parties and credible civil society organisations.

He also called for the publication of the audit findings and corrective measures, while ensuring that voters’ personal information remained protected.

The ADC presidential candidate insisted that any official found to have deliberately compromised the register should face sanctions, while eligible voters must be protected against wrongful deletion during the cleanup.

In a separate statement issued by Phrank Shaibu, Director of Strategic Communication of the ADC Presidential Campaign Council, Atiku described the discovery of AI-generated images as a serious challenge to INEC’s credibility.

He faulted the Commission for acknowledging that some registration officers had introduced irregularities into the register without disclosing their identities or explaining the steps taken to hold them accountable.

“If INEC knows how the register was compromised, it must disclose the evidence, identify every officer involved and explain why they have not been suspended and prosecuted,” he noted.

Atiku also demanded an independent forensic audit, particularly in view of the allegation that more than 20 million AI-generated images might be involved.

He called for the preservation of voter records, image files, access logs and audit trails to enable independent experts, political parties, civil society groups and credible international observers to examine the evidence.

The former vice-president further accused INEC of failing to address opposition parties’ demands for disclosure of companies contracted to produce sensitive election materials.

ADC Alleges Sabotage, Cites Electoral Act

Also expressing concern, the ADC accused INEC of deliberately undermining its credibility ahead of the 2027 general elections, arguing that the discovery of AI-generated photographs and fictitious entries had exposed serious weaknesses in the Commission’s processes.

In a statement, the party’s National Publicity Secretary, Mallam Bolaji Abdullahi, questioned why no arrests had been made despite INEC’s admission that some registration officers were responsible for introducing irregularities into the register.

“If INEC knows that its own officials compromised the voters’ register with AI-generated photographs, why has nobody been arrested? Why have these individuals not been handed over for prosecution? What exactly is INEC waiting for?” the party asked.

The ADC also accused the Commission of failing to publish the preliminary voters’ register online within the timeframe stipulated by Section 19(1) of the Electoral Act 2026, which requires the register to be made available for public scrutiny not later than 90 days before the general elections.

The party drew attention to Section 19(5), which it said makes failure by an INEC official to comply with the publication requirement a criminal offence punishable by a fine, imprisonment or both.

It questioned whether the Commission’s repeated difficulties in preparing the register reflected incompetence or a deliberate attempt to undermine the electoral process.

“We are beginning to wonder whether INEC is intentionally trying to make itself incompetent. Because how else do you explain an electoral umpire that had at least three years to prepare for elections, but is suddenly unable or unwilling to produce a credible voters’ register in accordance with the strict requirements of the law?” the party said.

The ADC warned that the Commission’s handling of the register had raised concerns about its willingness to comply with other mandatory provisions of the Electoral Act on election day.

It cited the use of the Bimodal Voter Accreditation System (BVAS) and serialised ballot papers as examples of safeguards that must be respected to ensure credible elections.

The party demanded an independent forensic audit of the register, the identification and investigation of officials implicated in the irregularities, and a public explanation of the Commission’s alleged failure to comply with the statutory publication requirement.

It insisted that compliance with the Electoral Act was not optional and urged INEC to demonstrate, through verifiable actions, that it was prepared to conduct free, fair and credible elections in 2027.