Nigerians going through the voter register INEC put online on Monday say some of the photos attached to records look AI-generated, and INEC says it is looking into it.
TheCable reported that the register went up after calls for wider public access, and that people started flagging problems within hours. Screenshots shared online showed entries from a polling unit in Etsako West LGA, Edo State.
X user Livinus Baloga (@LLenubari) posted records tagged to Omoazakpe-Afashio Town Hall in Uzairue South East ward, Etsako West. Pulse reported that another user, Decosule (@SuleDeco), shared screenshots from the same ward with faces people online say look synthetic.
The jokes came fast.
Other complaints are less strange but just as awkward. One voter told Pulse that when they registered around May or June, the system flagged another record with the same name, date of birth, state and NIN. Officials reportedly issued a voter ID number and promised a correction, but the duplicate is still listed. Oluwakemi Oyefeso said she could not find her own name on the register, while a duplicate under her details was there.
Aisha Hamman (@AyshaHamman) said INEC announced 103 million registered voters on 5 October and claimed the data cleanup was complete, then admitted the register still has questionable records. She asked how many valid voters will be left once the cleanup is done.
Political economist Pat Utomi said INEC “cannot afford to be careless” with the credibility of the process. Others read the story as a warning about 2027, and one user told INEC it would not succeed in rigging the elections. No one has shown evidence of that, and none of this proves fraud.
INEC answered on Tuesday night with a press statement on the alleged AI-generated photographs. It says the register published online on 26 October is the same preliminary register displayed at registration areas nationwide from 9 to 15 October, and that it was not changed. Questionable records were flagged during that display and are being reviewed. The online version predates that cleanup, so it does not reflect corrections already under way. The statement, from the Information and Voter Education Committee chaired by Mohammed Kudu Haruna, gave no count of affected records. INEC says the register is not final and will be certified on 15 December.
A separate row is about who is on the register. Yiaga Africa Executive Director Samson Itodo pointed out that young people aged 18 to 34 are 28.79% of the 2026 preliminary register, down from 39.6% in 2023, ThisDay reported. On INEC’s figures, the youth count fell from 37,060,399 to 29,777,578, a drop of 7,282,821, while the whole register grew 10.66% to 103,428,715. Itodo said that does not necessarily mean young people were removed, because three years of ageing moves voters out of the 18 to 34 band. He said ageing does not fully explain it, and asked INEC to publish a full age breakdown covering new registrations, removals and other adjustments.
To check your own polling unit:
- Go to display.inecnigeria.org and sign in. You need an account to view the register.
- Choose your state, local government area, ward and polling unit, or type your polling unit code.
- Check the names and photographs on the list. The site only shows the register. It cannot register you, transfer you or replace your PVC.
