INEC says some of its own registration officers put suspicious photographs into the preliminary voter register. The commission does not yet know why they did it.
Dr Lawrence Bayode, the commission’s Director of ICT, made the claim on Friday. He spoke on Arise Television.
Bayode said officers in the field have login details for the registration system. According to him, some of them used that access to add questionable records. He stressed that not every officer was involved, but the cases were spread across several states.
INEC found the records by running its Automated Biometric Identification System (ABIS) over the register. Bayode said some of the pictures were generated by AI. Others were simply the result of poor registration practice.
“We know what they did. We know how they did it. But honestly, I don’t know why,” he said.
The issue came to light after INEC posted the preliminary register on its website on October 26. Soon after, screenshots appeared on social media. They showed what looked like AI-made photos attached to voter entries in parts of Edo State.
Other complaints followed. Some people spotted duplicate entries. Others said their names were missing from the online list.
INEC responded on October 27. It said it had already flagged questionable records during the physical display of the register at Registration Areas, which ran from October 9 to 15. It added that a review and corrective action had begun.
The commission also pointed out that the online register is not the final version. It said the upload did not reflect all the data-cleanup work still going on.
Bayode said the cleanup began before the preliminary register was published. However, he noted that INEC faces pressure to finish within the 90-day statutory window.
INEC plans to complete verification, adjudication and data cleanup before certifying the final Register of Voters on December 15, 2026.
