By Augustine Ehikioya
The Chairman of the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, Prof. Joash Amupitan, has warned that AI-driven disinformation poses one of the biggest threats to the credibility of Nigeria’s 2027 General Election, and called for electoral technology and electoral communication to be treated as a single discipline.
He made the call in a keynote address delivered on his behalf by National Commissioner, Sani Adam, at the 13th Annual International Conference of the Association of Communication Scholars & Professionals of Nigeria, ACSPN, held at the National Open University Conference Centre, Abuja.
The conference was themed “Media, Technology and Elections in Africa: Navigating Digital Disruption and the New Dynamics of Electoral Communication.”
The INEC Chairman said the Commission’s credibility now rests as much on how information about its processes is understood and trusted as it does on the integrity of the ballot, BVAS and result sheets.
He noted that BVAS and the INEC Result Viewing Portal, IReV were deployed to close a longstanding credibility gap by allowing citizens to view polling unit results before collation.
He however acknowledged that the 2023 General Election showed technology could also become a source of public doubt when it underperformed.
“Legitimacy is earned only when systems perform reliably, are well understood, and are explained honestly when they fall short,” he said.
Prof. Amupitan disclosed that INEC is undertaking a comprehensive audit of its electoral technology systems covering system redundancy, penetration testing and disaster recovery planning.
The Commission is also exploring the conduct of a mock presidential election ahead of 2027 to test accreditation, transmission and results viewing under conditions similar to election day.
He confirmed that INEC has proposed a substantial budget with significant allocations for technology and operations, including new accreditation devices to replace those lost or damaged in the last cycle, adding that procurement talks with manufacturers have begun while budget finalisation continues.
On disinformation, the Chairman said generative AI has made it cheap and difficult to detect manipulated video, audio and imagery.
He cited documented cases of doctored political content in recent West and East African elections, including footage that circulated during Nigeria’s 2023 presidential contest.
He warned that such content can reach millions before verification, and that the danger extends to algorithmic microtargeting which allows conflicting messages to reach narrow voter segments without a shared factual base.
To address the challenges, Prof. Amupitan outlined a five-point approaches which include integration of technology and communication planning, dedicated rapid-response to counter falsehoods within the same news cycle, pre-emptive public communication on vulnerabilities and safeguards, deeper partnership with media scholars, fact-checkers and tech platforms and sustained investment in public media literacy
He invited ACSPN and communication scholars into structured collaboration on media literacy research, synthetic content detection, and training for journalists and civic educators.
The Chairman observed that Nigeria’s 2027 electorate will be younger and more mobile-first, with the smartphone as the primary window to the election.
He stressed that solutions must fit Nigeria’s realities of internet access, language diversity and institutional trust, adding that INEC’s response to disinformation would be to provide better and faster information rather than restrict journalism or civic dissent.
