77 days to polls:Parties clash over INEC’s preparations

By Henry Umoru, Luminous Jannamike & Omeiza Ajayi With barely 77 days to the 2027 general elections, concerns over the preparedness of the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, have become disturbing, especially following the discovery of artificial intelligence-generated photographs in the commission’s preliminary voters’ register. The development has raised fresh questions about the integrity of the electoral database, the effectiveness of INEC’s internal monitoring mechanisms and the commission’s capacity to conduct elections that would command public confidence.

Accordingly, the worries have been compounded by complaints about other irregularities in the preliminary register, including questionable names, addresses, genders and photographs. Although INEC has acknowledged the problem and promised to clean up the register before the final version is released on December 15, 2026, the development has exposed vulnerabilities in the registration process.

The commission’s Director of Information and Communication Technology, ICT, Dr Lawrence Bayode, disclosed that some registration officers allegedly used their official login credentials to introduce irregular entries into the database. He, however, assured Nigerians that the commission had identified those responsible and was taking steps to address the situation.

Registered voters INEC’s preliminary register, uploaded on October 26, 2026, contains over 103.4 million registered voters. Bayode explained that the figure reflected the more than 93 million voters recorded in the 2023 register and additional registrations from the continuous voter registration exercise ahead of the forthcoming elections. He said INEC was deploying technology to address the identified shortcomings, adding that its Automated Biometric Identification System, ABIS, had detected several questionable photographs before the preliminary register was released.

Against this backdrop, Sunday Vanguard spoke with officials of political parties to ascertain their assessment of INEC’s preparations, the implications of the AI-generated images and what the commission needs to do to guarantee credible elections. While some parties expressed reservations about the development and called for urgent measures to restore public confidence, others maintained that the discovery should not be exaggerated, insisting that INEC had sufficient time to address the identified problems.

LP: INEC must go back to drawing board For the Labour Party, LP, the discovery of AI-generated photographs in the preliminary voters’ register is a development that requires urgent attention, particularly given the proximity of the elections. The party’s National Publicity Secretary, Ken Asogwa, said the situation had moved beyond speculation following the commission’s admission that irregularities had occurred.

He said: “This is quite concerning. This is no longer a rumour because even INEC Director of ICT came out to admit it.” Asogwa expressed concern that such a development was occurring under the leadership of the current INEC Chairman, Prof. Joash Ojo Amupitan, SAN, whom he described as a person with considerable academic and professional credentials.

He said: “This is happening at a time when we have an INEC Chairman who is not just a lawyer, a Senior Advocate of Nigeria at that. If you look at his CV, he is also an academic of repute, an individual who was a Deputy Vice Chancellor of a University.” According to him, the proximity of the elections makes the development particularly disturbing. “That this is happening with less than 90 days to a crucial election is worrisome,” he added.

On the commission’s preparedness, the LP spokesman said INEC was in the best position to assess and explain its readiness. However, he insisted that the commission had a responsibility to reassure Nigerians and rebuild confidence in the electoral process. He said: “As to their preparedness, the commission is in the best place to say. But we will suggest that they go back to the drawing board and inspire public confidence in the process.

“Election also has a lot to do with public perception.” PDP: No cause for alarm However, the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, adopted a different position, expressing confidence in the commission’s activities and urging political parties and other stakeholders not to make the discovery appear bigger than it is. The party’s National Publicity Secretary, Jungudo Haruna Mohammed, acknowledged that complaints had emerged from different quarters over the preliminary voters’ register, particularly allegations involving AI-generated images.

He, however, said INEC’s admission and commitment to correcting the anomalies should be acknowledged. He said: “We have received complaints from different quarters, particularly about the preliminary voters’ register, where it was alleged that AI-generated images had been included. It is no longer an allegation because INEC has owned up to it. “The good thing is that INE