INEC says voter register cleanup will finish before 15 December

INEC says it will clean up suspected AI-generated photographs and other irregularities in its preliminary voter register before the final version is released on 15 December.

Lawrence Bayode, the commission’s director of information and communication technology, gave the assurance in an ARISE News interview on Friday.

Bayode said INEC had not used artificial intelligence to register voters. He attributed questionable entries to some registration officers who had access to the system, while distinguishing suspected AI-generated images from photographs affected by poor registration procedures.

He said the commission’s biometric checks had identified problematic records and how some irregularities occurred, but he could not explain the officers’ motives. His account did not implicate all registration officers.

In its 27 October clarification, INEC said the online register published a day earlier was the same preliminary list displayed at registration areas from 9 to 15 October.

The commission said that version did not reflect all ongoing corrections and was not the final certified register. Questionable records had been flagged during the physical display for examination.

Bayode said identified irregularities had been removed while the wider cleanup continued. INEC’s statement sets verification, adjudication and correction of records as steps to complete before certification on 15 December.

Sources: ARISE News interview; INEC clarification; Punch; Daily Trust