INEC's ICT Director admits AI-generated photos were entered into voter register

The Independent National Electoral Commission has attributed the appearance of AI-generated photographs and other questionable entries in its preliminary voters’ register to irregularities allegedly introduced by some registration officers.

INEC’s Director of Information and Communication Technology, Dr Lawrence Bayode, disclosed this on Friday during an appearance on Arise Television. He said the officers had authorised login credentials that allowed them to access the registration system and enrol voters.

“We have registration officers on the field. And these registration officers, they have login details to log into the system,” Bayode said. “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.”

Bayode said INEC detected the questionable records when it examined the database using its Automated Biometric Identification System, known as ABIS. He explained that some photographs were generated using artificial intelligence, while others reflected poor registration procedures.

“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 and because they have access to register people,” he said. The ICT director added that the commission had identified the affected records and understood how some of the irregularities occurred, although he could not explain the officers’ motives.

“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,” he said. Bayode said work to clean up the register had begun before the preliminary version was published online. He added that the commission was under pressure to complete the exercise within the statutory 90-day period.

His explanation follows public criticism after INEC uploaded the preliminary register to its website on October 26. Screenshots shared on social media showed suspicious photographs attached to voter records in parts of Edo State. Other complaints concerned alleged duplicate entries and registered voters whose details were missing from the online register.

INEC had previously explained that the online publication contained the same preliminary register displayed physically at registration areas nationwide between October 9 and 15 during the Display, Claims and Objections exercise. In a statement issued on October 27, the commission said questionable records had been identified and flagged during the physical display, prompting further examination and corrective action.

It also stressed that the online register was not the final certified version and did not reflect all the data-cleanup work under way. INEC is expected to complete its verification, adjudication and correction processes before the final register is certified on December 15, 2026.