2027: EU, IPC Raise Alarm Over AI Threats To Nigeria’s Elections
A voter who receives a fake polling-unit announcement, a citizen misled by fabricated election results or a candidate whose voice is cloned to spread false information could all become victims of a new threat to Nigeria’s democracy ahead of the 2027 general elections.
With artificial intelligence making it easier to manufacture convincing images, videos and audio recordings, stakeholders are warning that Nigeria’s next elections could face a serious battle over what citizens believe to be true.
The Executive Director of the International Press Centre (IPC), Lanre Arogundade, former Chairman of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), Professor Attahiru Jega, and European Union Ambassador to Nigeria and ECOWAS, Gautier Mignot, gave the warning at a summit on electoral information integrity in Abuja.
Arogundade, who welcomed participants to the summit, said the scale and speed of political misinformation had become a growing threat to electoral credibility, public confidence and democratic accountability.
Citing findings by the Nigeria Fact Checkers Coalition during the 2023 general elections, he disclosed that 63 per cent of presidential and National Assembly claims reviewed by the coalition were entirely false.
He added that false claims reached a second platform within an average of 11 minutes, while more than 1.2 million accounts following leading presidential candidates were identified as inauthentic.
Arogundade also pointed to the 26.7 per cent voter turnout recorded in the 2023 elections, describing it as the lowest since 1999, amid growing concerns about the information environment surrounding elections.
He warned that the emergence of AI-generated political content, cloned voices and forged result sheets had made the challenge more complicated, with the additional danger that genuine evidence could be dismissed as fake.
According to him, Nigeria needs more than public awareness campaigns.
It requires a coordinated, trusted and rights-respecting system through which institutions can anticipate threats, verify evidence, escalate incidents and communicate accurate information promptly.
He said the two-day summit, attended by more than 300 participants drawn from INEC, security agencies, political parties, regulators, media organisations, technology platforms, fact-checkers, civil society and academia, would develop a common understanding of the threats and establish practical responses.
The summit is also expected to produce an electoral information integrity response protocol, an Abuja Commitment outlining responsibilities and timelines, and a Nigerian Electoral Information Integrity Partnership to sustain collaboration beyond the meeting.
Former INEC Chairman, Professor Attahiru Jega, described the gathering as timely, urging participants to take advantage of the platform to make meaningful contributions towards strengthening Nigeria’s electoral process.
Jega expressed optimism about the deliberations and called for active participation from stakeholders to ensure the summit produced useful outcomes.
Also speaking, the European Union Ambassador to Nigeria and ECOWAS, Gautier Mignot, warned that elections could be undermined without anyone physically interfering with ballot papers.
He explained that fabricated announcements could misdirect voters, while false claims about election results could create distrust before official information was verified.
According to Mignot, the immediate target of electoral misinformation is information, but its deeper target is public trust.
He noted that artificial intelligence offered opportunities for translation, accessibility and communication but could equally make deception easier to produce and harder to detect.
The EU envoy, however, cautioned against reducing the fight against electoral misinformation to detecting deepfakes, stressing the need for reliable information, credible institutional communication and independent journalism.
He outlined three priorities for Nigeria as it prepares for the 2027 elections: early preparedness, operational partnerships and the protection of democratic rights.
Mignot urged electoral institutions to establish clear communication channels, define responsibilities and develop rapid-response mechanisms before election-related misinformation escalates.
He also called for stronger cooperation among electoral authorities, journalists, fact-checkers and technology platforms, while warning that such collaboration must not compromise the independence of individual institutions.
He stressed that journalists must retain editorial independence, fact-checkers must remain free to reach their conclusions, INEC must communicate within its mandate, and technology platforms must be transparent about their decisions and provide appropriate avenues for review.
On democratic freedoms, Mignot warned that efforts to counter misinformation must not become excuses for suppressing criticism, silencing journalists or treating political disagreement as a security threat.
He further highlighted the targeting of women through impersonation, fabricated social media posts and coordinated online abuse, calling for inclusive access to credible electoral information across local languages and accessible formats.
Mignot reaffirmed the EU’s commitment to supporting Nigeria-led efforts to protect electoral integrity, emphasising that the country’s electoral choices belong to Nigerians and that international partners should support, rather than determine, political outcomes.
He urged participants to conclude the summit with practical commitments, clear response mechanisms and timelines for implementation rather than another declaration without follow-up.
The EU-funded Support to Democratic Governance in Nigeria programme is supporting the initiative, which seeks to strengthen the country’s capacity to identify and respond to threats to electoral information integrity ahead of the 2027 general elections.
