•Says human oversight will remain central to electoral process
ABUJA Nigeria — The Chairman of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), Prof. Joash O. Amupitan, SAN, has declared that artificial intelligence (AI) will not determine the outcome of the 2027 general elections, insisting that the sovereign will of Nigerians must remain the ultimate authority in choosing their leaders.
Amupitan made the declaration at the Artificial Intelligence and Democracy Forum 2026 in Abuja, themed “Safeguarding the 2027 General Elections in the Age of Artificial Intelligence.”
He stressed that technology, regardless of its sophistication, must remain a tool for improving human decision-making, institutional efficiency and administrative transparency rather than assuming control over democratic processes.
“Algorithms will not, and must never, decide the 2027 vote,” he declared.
“The choice of who leads Nigeria belongs exclusively to the Nigerian people. Algorithms may predict patterns; they may optimise routes, and they may even suggest preferences. But they do not have a conscience, they do not have a country, and they do not have a vote.”
The forum, jointly convened by INEC and Yiaga Africa, attracted the Chairperson of the ECOWAS Network of Electoral Commissions and Chairman of Senegal’s Electoral Commission, Mr Abdoulaye Sylla; members of the diplomatic corps; INEC national commissioners and resident electoral commissioners; heads of electoral management bodies across Africa; international development partners; political party leaders; civil society organisations; media executives; security agencies; technology companies; and academics.
With 92 days to the 2027 general elections, Amupitan acknowledged that AI would significantly influence Nigeria’s electoral environment, particularly information dissemination, election logistics and the strategies employed by both democratic participants and those seeking to undermine the process.
“While algorithms will not decide the vote, AI will undeniably shape the information environment in which citizens form their choices, influence the speed and security of electoral logistics, and alter the tactics of both democratic actors and anti-democratic disruptors,” he said.
The INEC chairman described the 2027 elections as the largest democratic exercise on the African continent and one of the world’s most complex administrative undertakings.
He said the exercise would involve more than 103 million registered voters, 176,846 polling units across 774 local government areas and multiple elections covering the presidency, National Assembly, governorships and state Houses of Assembly.
Amupitan disclosed that INEC had completed 10 of the 14 major operational milestones stipulated by the Electoral Act 2026.
He added that the commission had procured additional Bimodal Voter Accreditation System (BVAS) units, digitised candidate nominations through the INEC Candidates Nomination Portal (ICNP), and was processing more than 15,000 nominations submitted by 22 political parties.
He also highlighted the introduction of online voter registration, describing it as a first in Nigeria’s electoral process.
Rather than viewing AI solely as a threat, Amupitan identified several areas where the technology could improve election administration.
These include predictive logistics and route optimisation, automated assistance with election-result audits, biometric database management, multilingual voter engagement through Natural Language Processing and AI-powered cybersecurity systems.
However, he emphasised that the commission would maintain strict human oversight over critical electoral decisions.
According to him, result collation, voter accreditation and the determination of candidates’ qualifications would not be fully automated or delegated to autonomous systems.
“Human accountability, statutory oversight, and judicial review will remain paramount at every stage of the electoral chain,” he said.
His remarks underscore INEC’s stated position that AI should strengthen electoral administration without replacing human responsibility or undermining the authority of Nigerian voters in the 2027 general elections.
