Posts showing odd names and photos on INEC’s preliminary voters’ register have spread on X this week. INEC’s ICT director now says some of the records came from its own registration officers.
Dr Lawrence Bayode said on Arise TV on 30 October that some officers used their official login credentials to add questionable records to the database. The Automated Biometric Identification System (ABIS) found them. “Some of these pictures are AI-generated,” he said. He added that INEC knows how the records were added but “honestly, I don’t know why.”
The officers did not all work in one place, and not all of them were involved, he said. He gave no count of officers or records, and the reports show no sanctions yet. One example was a polling unit in Etsako West, Edo State.
The register was published online on 26 October. INEC says it is the preliminary version, the same one displayed from 9 to 15 October, and does not reflect the cleanup under way. Mohammed Kudu Haruna, chairman of the Information and Voter Education Committee, said the commission is examining “possible technical or procedural lapses.” The final register is due on 15 December.
What the posts claimed
The viral posts went further. One showed names that look like keyboard mashes attributed to Abia. Another claimed there were “millions” of such records. INEC has given no count, and MoreBranches could not verify the “millions” claim.
The Nigeria Democratic Congress has accused INEC of planning to rig the 2027 elections with AI. INEC’s statement did not address that claim.
