AI Must Remain Servant, Not Master, of Nigerian Democracy — Amupitan
The Chairman of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), Prof. Joash O. Amupitan, SAN, has declared that artificial intelligence (AI) and algorithms will not determine the outcome of the 2027 General Elections, insisting that the choice of Nigeria’s leaders rests solely with the electorate.
Amupitan made the declaration at the Artificial Intelligence and Democracy Forum 2026 in Abuja, themed “Safeguarding the 2027 General Elections in the Age of Artificial Intelligence.”
“Algorithms will not, and must never, decide the 2027 vote,” he said. “The choice of who leads Nigeria belongs exclusively to the Nigerian people. Algorithms may predict patterns; they may optimise routes, and they may even suggest preferences. But they do not have a conscience, they do not have a country, and they do not have a vote.”
The forum, co-convened by INEC and Yiaga Africa, brought together electoral officials from Nigeria and other African countries, members of the diplomatic corps, political party leaders, civil society organisations, media executives, security agencies, technology companies, international development partners and academics.
Amupitan acknowledged that AI would significantly influence the information environment, electoral logistics and the strategies employed by both democratic actors and those seeking to disrupt the electoral process.
“While algorithms will not decide the vote, AI will undeniably shape the information environment in which citizens form their choices, influence the speed and security of electoral logistics, and alter the tactics of both democratic actors and anti-democratic disruptors,” he said.
He described the 2027 General Elections as one of the most complex administrative exercises in the world, involving more than 103 million registered voters, 176,846 polling units across 774 local government areas, and elections at presidential, National Assembly, governorship and state assembly levels.
The INEC chairman said the Commission had completed 10 of the 14 major operational milestones stipulated by the Electoral Act 2026. He also listed the procurement of additional Bimodal Voter Accreditation System (BVAS) machines, the digitisation of candidate nominations through the INEC Candidates Nomination Portal (ICNP) and the introduction of online voter registration as part of its preparations.
According to him, the Commission is exploring the use of AI to improve election administration through predictive logistics, route optimisation, automated assistance with result audits, biometric database management, multilingual voter engagement and cybersecurity defence.
He, however, stressed that technological advancement would not replace human oversight in critical electoral processes.
Amupitan said no critical electoral decision, result collation, voter accreditation or candidate qualification would be fully automated or delegated to an autonomous system.
“Human accountability, statutory oversight, and judicial review will remain paramount at every stage of the electoral chain,” he said.
The INEC chairman also identified generative AI, deepfakes, synthetic media, targeted political messaging, undisclosed digital advertisements, algorithmic bias and automated cyberattacks as threats to electoral integrity.
“The greatest threat we face is not the hacking of a ballot box, but the hacking of the voter’s mind,” he warned, adding that voters’ inability to distinguish genuine information from synthetic falsehoods could undermine informed electoral choices.
To address these risks, Amupitan disclosed that INEC had established a specialised AI Unit within its Information and Communication Technology Directorate.
He said the unit was equipped with digital monitoring tools, deepfake detection software and data analytics expertise to identify technical threats and information manipulation targeting the electoral process.
The INEC chairman also called for coordinated action among political parties, civil society organisations, security agencies, the judiciary and the media to protect the elections.
He urged political parties to adopt an Ethical AI Code of Conduct, while asking civil society groups to monitor algorithmic transparency and digital campaign spending.
He further called on security agencies and the judiciary to strengthen their capacity in cybercrime investigations and digital forensics, while urging media organisations to establish internal digital forensic desks to verify user-generated content before broadcast.
Amupitan also proposed an Electoral Information Integrity Coalition comprising INEC, civil society organisations, the Nigerian Guild of Editors, the Nigeria Fact-Checking Coalition, media houses and telecommunications operators to serve as an early-warning network against viral AI-generated misinformation.
Returning to the central question of the forum, he maintained that the election outcome would ultimately reflect the choices of Nigerian voters across different communities and professions.
“The young market woman in Aba, the farmer in Sokoto, the teacher in Ibadan, the tech innovator in Yaba, Lagos, the fisherman in Bayelsa, and the student in Maiduguri” would determine the country’s political future, he said.
“On election day in 2027, it will be the thumbprint of the Nigerian citizen, guided by their own will and their own hopes, that decides our future,” Amupitan said. “INEC’s job is to ensure that the voice of the people is heard clearly, above the noise of the machines.”
He concluded that the future of democracy should not be determined by the capabilities of technology but by the decisions free people make through their laws and institutions about how technology should be used.
