INEC Exposes Officers Behind AI-Generated Images, Other Irregularities in Voters’ Register

The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) has revealed that some of its registration officers were responsible for introducing suspected AI-generated photographs and other questionable entries into the preliminary voters’ register.

INEC’s Director of Information and Communication Technology, Dr Lawrence Bayode, disclosed this during an interview on Arise Television on Friday, explaining that some officials allegedly exploited their access credentials to insert irregular records into the commission’s database.

Bayode said the commission uncovered the questionable entries through its Automated Biometric Identification System (ABIS), which was used to scrutinise the registration records.

He stressed that the problem was not widespread among all registration officers but involved some officials operating across different states.

“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,” he stated.

Providing further details, Bayode explained that not every suspicious photograph was AI-generated, as some resulted from inadequate registration practices.

“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 because they have access to register people,” he said.

He added that INEC had successfully identified the questionable records and traced the methods through which some of the irregularities entered the database. However, the commission could not establish why the officers engaged in such activities.

“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,” Bayode added.

The ICT director also disclosed that INEC had started removing and correcting the questionable entries before releasing the preliminary voters’ register, noting that the commission was operating within the statutory 90-day timeline for the exercise.

The development comes amid mounting public criticism following the upload of INEC’s preliminary voters’ register to its official website on October 26.

The register attracted attention after screenshots circulated online showing suspicious photographs believed to have been generated using artificial intelligence and linked to voter records in parts of Edo State.

Beyond the questionable images, Nigerians also raised concerns about alleged duplicate entries and missing voter information, with some registered voters claiming that their personal details could not be found in the online register.

The latest disclosure by INEC provides further insight into how some of the irregularities may have entered the electoral database.

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