The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) says it has begun removing questionable records from its preliminary Register of Voters after identifying 268 entries flagged for suspected artificial intelligence-generated photographs and other irregularities.
The commission’s Director of Information and Communication Technology, Lawrence Bayode, disclosed this in an interview, saying its Automated Biometric Identification System (ABIS) had detected the affected records.
“What we are currently doing now is looking at all these 268 records that ABIS already flagged as AI-generated or even something of irregularities,” Bayode said.
He explained that some registration officers allegedly used their official login details to introduce questionable records into the commission’s database.
According to him, some of the irregularities involved the misuse of a special registration option designed for people with disabilities who have incomplete or missing fingers.
“Those that we have seen, we are cleaning up,” he said.
However, Bayode clarified that not all photographs enhanced with artificial intelligence would be removed from the register.
He said genuine photographs improved using AI tools on mobile phones would remain, while entirely AI-generated photographs would be removed.
The development follows public criticism after INEC published its preliminary voter register online on Oct. 26, with social media users raising concerns over suspicious photographs, duplicate entries and names of deceased persons.
The commission says the register is not yet final and that verification and corrections will continue before its certification on Dec. 15, 2026.
INEC is expected to use the final register for the 2027 general elections.
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