INEC Warns Journalists against Amplifying Unverified Election Results

Boniface Okoro in Umuahia

The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) has cautioned journalists against amplifying unverified election results, manipulated content and misinformation capable of undermining public confidence in the 2027 general election.

The Resident Electoral Commissioner (REC) for Abia State, Prof. Sylvia Uchenna Agu, gave the warning at the ongoing 2026 Media Retreat and Press Week of the Correspondents Chapel of the Nigeria Union of Journalists (NUJ), Abia State Council, holding in Umuahia.

Speaking on the theme: “Safeguarding Electoral Integrity in the Digital Age: INEC and the Media Ahead of the 2027 General Election,” Agu identified misinformation, disinformation, artificial intelligence-generated deepfakes, cloned voices and manipulated result sheets as emerging threats to electoral credibility.

She urged media organisations to prioritise verification over speed, warning that the race to break news must not come at the expense of national stability and public trust. “The race to break the news must not break the nation,” she cautioned.

She advised practitioners to cross-check election-related information with INEC before publishing and to avoid declaring results based on unauthorised sources, noting that failure to verify could expose news organisations to credibility challenges.

Agu called on the media to support voter education by explaining relevant provisions of the Electoral Act, 2026, particularly those relating to voter accreditation, electronic transmission of results and transparency.

She said the new legal framework had strengthened safeguards, citing provisions mandating the use of the Bimodal Voter Accreditation System (BVAS) for accreditation and electronic transmission of polling unit results to INEC’s Result Viewing Portal (IReV), with penalties for officials who deliberately frustrate transmission.

On technological preparedness, Agu said INEC was building on lessons from previous elections to improve BVAS, IReV, the electronic EC8A and its Result Management System, adding that the electronic EC8A was designed to detect inconsistencies between manually completed result sheets and electronically captured results.

She recalled how BVAS helped detect alleged manipulation in an Abia local government area during the 2023 elections, where BVAS recorded 27,000 accredited voters but the figure was allegedly altered manually to 102,000. “BVAS was the game changer in 2023. It checkmated frivolous accreditations,” she said.

The REC assured Nigerians that INEC was strengthening cybersecurity, protecting election data, improving system monitoring and enhancing disaster recovery, while exploring responsible application of artificial intelligence with human oversight.

She described the media as a critical constitutional partner under Section 22 of the 1999 Constitution, but urged journalists to balance their watchdog role with ethics, accuracy and responsible reporting.

Agu assured journalists of INEC’s continued openness to engagement and its commitment to conducting free, fair, credible and inclusive elections in 2027. Over 30 media practitioners participated in the retreat.