Former Chairman of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), Prof. Attahiru Jega, has urged the commission to consider deploying artificial intelligence-powered chatbots to provide voters with verified electoral information and counter misinformation ahead of the 2027 general election.
Jega’s proposal came amid growing concerns by electoral stakeholders that the increasing sophistication of Artificial Intelligence (AI) could make it easier for political actors and other malicious groups to manipulate public opinion, circulate fabricated election information and undermine confidence in the electoral process.
The former INEC chairman, who spoke at a national summit AI, FIMI and electoral information integrity themed, “Beyond The Ballot: Safeguarding Electoral Information Integrity In The Age Of AI” on Monday in Abuja, warned that although technology could improve the efficiency and effectiveness of electoral administration, its negative applications posed serious risks to democratic governance.
Jega noted that the priority for Nigeria should be to anticipate these threats, prepare adequately and establish a framework for rapid response before the 2027 elections.
He said: “What is most important, of course, is how we prepare, anticipate these challenges, and take appropriate measures, particularly in terms of setting up a framework of rapid response to address this.”
Drawing from his participation in the 2024 Cambridge Conference on Electoral Democracy, Jega said the deployment of chatbots by election management bodies was among the practical measures discussed to improve access to reliable electoral information.
He explained that such platforms, when equipped with officially verified information, could help citizens obtain accurate answers and establish the authenticity of claims circulating during elections.
“I participated in the 2024 Cambridge Conference on Electoral Democracy, during which a lot of time was spent on discussing the need for election management bodies specifically in Africa to consider, among other things, employing chatbots with officially provided accurate data and information so that people who are looking for information can quickly obtain it, over the day, and for ascertaining the verity or otherwise of information being circulated.”
Jega noted that some African electoral management bodies had already recognised the usefulness of the technology in reducing the impact of misinformation and disinformation.
“I believe that such positive uses of AI may be worthy of the effort, while of course looking wide-eyed and vigilant for other efficient and effective ways of protecting information integrity.”
He urged participants at the summit to move beyond identifying the dangers of AI to developing practical strategies for addressing them, stressing that public confidence in INEC and other electoral stakeholders remained fundamental to credible elections.
Jega added that Nigeria must strengthen its preparedness as the next general election approaches because the country would inevitably face some of the challenges identified by the speakers.
“The integrity of elections is so important, and keeping trust and ensuring that there is public confidence in what a particular electoral commission does and the other key stakeholders do is very, very important.
“What will make the difference is the manner by which we are able to address them and to quickly respond and address them.”
The current INEC Chairman, Prof. Joash Amupitan, also warned that the rapid democratisation of generative AI tools had significantly lowered the barriers for malicious actors to interfere with electoral processes.
Amupitan however maintained that AI was not inherently hostile to democracy, noting that election management bodies worldwide were already using machine learning and other technological applications to improve voter registration, logistics planning, data analysis and administrative efficiency.
He said the same technology could be exploited to create highly convincing false information, including cloned voices, fabricated videos of election officials making false announcements and automated online campaigns designed to simulate public outrage.
The INEC chairman warned that the danger was particularly serious where electoral institutions and voters lacked adequate information to distinguish authentic communications from manipulated content.
He identified the possibility of fake operational directives, forged accreditation portals and fabricated claims about voter registration as potential sources of confusion ahead of the 2027 polls.
Amupitan also warned that manipulated announcements about election results or the cancellation of polls in strategic constituencies could trigger public unrest and undermine the credibility of the electoral process.
He called for stronger cooperation among INEC, security agencies, independent fact-checkers, media organisations and technology platforms to anticipate emerging threats, verify evidence and respond promptly.
The commission, he said, must prioritise voter sensitisation, strengthen its digital infrastructure and ensure that institutions handling electoral information exercise restraint in protecting the integrity of the process.
In his remarks, Ambassador of the European Union to Nigeria and ECOWAS, Gautier Mignot, said the growing manipulation of electoral information posed a direct threat to public trust and citizens’ ability to make informed democratic choices.
He warned that a fabricated electoral announcement could send voters to the wrong polling units, while false claims about results could deepen suspicion before verified information reached the public.
According to him, although AI could support translation, accessibility and communication, it could equally make deception easier to produce and more difficult to recognise.
Mignot cautioned against reducing the challenge to detecting deepfakes, arguing that even information that did not involve sophisticated technology could generate uncertainty and undermine confidence in electoral institutions.
“The task is therefore broader than detecting deepfakes. It is to build an electoral information environment in which reliable information is available, institutions communicate credibly, independent journalism can flourish and manipulation has a prepared response.”
Mignot identified three priorities for Nigeria ahead of 2027: preparing before electoral pressure builds, making partnerships operational and protecting democratic rights while safeguarding electoral information.
He said election authorities and other stakeholders must agree on verification procedures, communication responsibilities and escalation channels well before election day.
“Election day is too late to establish verification contacts, clarify responsibilities, or agree on who can authorize a public election.
“Journalists must retain their editorial independence. Fact-checkers must remain free to reach their own conclusions. Academics communicate within its authority, platforms must explain their decisions, and provide appropriate roots for review. What is needed is coordination, not a single venue for promulgation.”
The EU envoy also cautioned against using the fight against disinformation to silence legitimate criticism, suppress investigative reporting or criminalise political disagreement.
“A citizen questioning an institution is not necessarily spreading disinformation. A journalism reporting a failure is performing the democratic function,” he said.
He further called for deliberate measures to protect women from online intimidation, falsehoods and coordinated abuse, while ensuring that trustworthy electoral information was accessible in local languages, through community media and to persons with disabilities.
“It would be too ambitious to promise an election without tensions, but it is possible to look towards an election in which falsities do not go unanswered and citizens are not left to navigate uncertainty alone.”
Delivering the Keynote address, Prof. Abigail Ogwezzy-Ndisika warned that Nigeria’s experience across the 2015, 2019 and 2023 general elections showed a steady and dangerous escalation in the sophistication and operational reach of digital electoral manipulation.
She said the 2015 elections exposed Nigeria to data-driven digital interference, including voter psychological profiling and targeted advertising by foreign political consultants seeking to exploit existing ethnic and religious divisions.
By 2019, she explained, digital manipulation had evolved into a domestic disinformation economy involving paid social media influencers, political operatives and coordinated networks spreading unverified information.
Ogwezzy-Ndisika cautioned Nigerians against forwarding unverified messages, particularly during election periods, urging citizens to rely on authoritative information from INEC and credible media organisations.
She urged stakeholders to develop an institutionalised Electoral Information Integrity Response Protocol before the 2027 elections, warning that Nigeria could not afford fragmented and uncoordinated responses when false information began circulating.
She identified five major risks requiring attention: AI-generated political manipulation, foreign influence operations, the weaponisation of authentic evidence, institutional fragmentation and the possibility of government overreach in the fight against disinformation.
Ogwezzy-Ndisika also cautioned that anti-disinformation measures without clear judicial oversight and human rights safeguards could be used to suppress investigative journalism, restrict civic space and undermine freedom of expression.
To address the threats, she proposed a six-stage operational framework involving early warning and detection, incident triage, independent forensic verification, digital evidence preservation, strategic escalation and rapid public counter-messaging, followed by post-incident reviews.
She said the proposed framework should establish joint monitoring mechanisms, use multiple channels of social listening and deploy automated systems to identify emerging synthetic threats before they go viral.
“Prevention is very important before virality because it will have permeated so hard and, you know, the damage will have been done,” she said.
Ogwezzy-Ndisika also advocated a non-partisan verification hub where flagged synthetic content could be independently examined, alongside standardised procedures for capturing, preserving and archiving digital evidence.
However, she stressed that protecting electoral information integrity must not become an excuse for violating citizens’ rights.
“Protecting that information integrity must never become a pretext for authoritarian overreach because we’re looking at rights and safeguards,” she added