The Obidient Movement has asked the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) to provide details of its proposed use of Artificial Intelligence (AI) in the 2027 general elections.
The movement’s National Coordinator, Yunusa Tanko, made the demand in a statement issued in Abuja on Tuesday, expressing concern that the deployment of AI could raise additional questions if existing issues concerning electoral transparency and result transmission remained unresolved.
His comments followed the disclosure by INEC Chairman, Prof Joash Amupitan, that the commission had started deploying AI tools to identify discrepancies and administrative errors in election results.
Amupitan had also disclosed that INEC was taking measures to tackle the use of AI to spread election-related disinformation through fake result sheets, cloned voices, fabricated videos and forged official documents.
Tanko, however, said INEC had not provided sufficient information on the proposed technology, including how it would operate, the problems it was designed to address and the safeguards against possible abuse.
“The same INEC that has failed to address the most basic issues surrounding electoral transparency, result transmission and the credibility of its processes is now announcing plans to deploy Artificial Intelligence in the 2027 elections,” he said.
“We reject this proposal in its entirety, particularly as the Commission has failed to explain how this technology will work, what problems it is intended to solve and what safeguards will prevent its abuse.”
The Obidient coordinator referred to a recent investigation by Mundx Analytics, which he said found that presidential results from more than 50,000 polling units were uploaded from mobile phones.
According to him, technological innovation alone could not guarantee credible elections without institutional accountability.
“Introducing AI into a system that has yet to account for its existing failures is not electoral reform. It is an attempt to distract Nigerians from the fundamental questions of institutional independence, transparency and accountability,” Tanko said.
The movement called on INEC to publish its comprehensive plan for the 2027 elections, including details of the technologies and procedures to be used and safeguards against abuse.
It also demanded an independent audit of INEC’s electoral technology and the public release of the findings and corrective measures.
Tanko urged the commission to establish transparent and verifiable result transmission, stressing that votes recorded at polling units should be accurately reflected in the final results.
He also called for independent testing and public scrutiny of INEC’s proposed AI systems before their deployment.
Tanko said Amupitan still had time to reconsider the commission’s approach ahead of the elections.
“The INEC Chairman, Mr Joash Amupitan, still has enough time to retrace his steps before it is too late. The people’s mandate is not negotiable,” he said.
Amupitan, speaking at the 24th All Nigeria Editors Conference in Enugu, said INEC had established a dedicated AI Division within its ICT Department.
He said the commission had also developed an AI Roadmap and Governance Framework based on human oversight, transparency and accountability, data protection, cybersecurity and public trust.
The INEC chairman warned that AI-generated disinformation could pose a growing threat to elections, with the technology capable of producing convincing fake result sheets, cloned voices, fabricated videos and forged official documents within minutes.
He said the danger extended beyond the spread of false information, as convincing fabrications could also make Nigerians question the authenticity of genuine election results.
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