INEC reveals how registration officers uploaded fake and AI-generated pictures into voters' register

• INEC blames some registration officers for irregularities in the preliminary voters' register.

• Officers allegedly used their official login details to introduce questionable records.

• Some photographs were AI-generated, while others resulted from poor registration practices.

• INEC says it is reviewing the records ahead of final register certification on December 15.

The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) has revealed how suspected artificial intelligence-generated photographs and other questionable records entered its preliminary Register of Voters, blaming some of its registration officers for the irregularities.

INEC's Director of Information and Communication Technology, Dr Lawrence Bayode, disclosed this on Friday, October 30, 2026, during an interview on Arise Television's The Morning Show.

Bayode explained that some registration officers allegedly used their official login credentials to introduce questionable records into the voter registration database.

According to him, the officers had access to the registration system because their responsibilities allowed them to register eligible voters.

He said INEC's findings showed that the irregularities were not limited to one location, as some officers across different states were allegedly involved.

Bayode said, “We have registration officers on the field. And these registration officers, they have login details to log into the system.

“So what we have found is that some of these registration officers, not all of them now, some of them across the states nationwide, they've done different things to bring these irregularities onto the register.”

The ICT director, however, clarified that not all the questionable photographs were generated using artificial intelligence.

He explained that while some images appeared to have been AI-generated, others were linked to poor registration practices that allowed unacceptable photographs and records into the database.

“Some of these pictures are AI-generated. Some of them not AI-generated, but very bad registration. And this thing got into the register by the registration officers and because they have access to register people,” he added.

Bayode also said the commission identified the questionable entries through its Automated Biometric Identification System (ABIS), which it used to examine registration records and detect irregularities.

He said INEC had established what some of the officers did and how the questionable records entered the system, although he could not explain their reasons for doing so.

“When the ABIS was run on the system, we saw these people. We know what they did. We know how they did it. But honestly, I don't know why,” he said.

The revelation follows public concerns after INEC uploaded its preliminary voters' register to its website on October 26. Screenshots circulated on social media showing photographs suspected to have been generated using AI, particularly in records from Etsako West Local Government Area of Edo State.

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Other concerns included alleged duplicate entries, names of deceased persons and complaints from registered voters who said their details were missing from the online register. 

INEC had earlier explained that the online version was the same preliminary register physically displayed at Registration Areas nationwide between October 9 and 15, 2026.

In a statement on October 27, the commission said it had identified questionable records during the display exercise and commenced a review and corrective process. It also stressed that the published register was not the final certified version. 

The commission is expected to complete its verification, adjudication and data-cleanup processes before certifying the final Register of Voters on December 15, 2026.