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The Obidient Movement has rejected the planned deployment of Artificial Intelligence (AI) in the collation of results for the 2027 general elections, warning that Nigerians would not accept what it described as another attempt to “manufacture” election results.
It said the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) should abandon the plan, particularly as the commission had admitted that its AI governance framework was yet to be finalised.
In a statement issued yesterday by its media and communications directorate and signed by Onyeka Dike, the movement described the proposed use of AI at the results collation stage as “reckless and unacceptable”, arguing that Nigerians should not be subjected to an untested electoral process.
The statement said: “INEC cannot tell Nigerians that it intends to introduce AI into one of the most sensitive stages of the electoral process while simultaneously admitting that the rules governing its use are still being developed.
“Nigerians are not guinea pigs for another untested electoral experiment. We reject the use of AI in results collation and demand that INEC immediately abandon the plan.”
The movement said INEC should instead focus on restoring public confidence following what it described as the credibility crisis surrounding the 2023 general elections.
It alleged that the commission was introducing opaque processes that could raise further questions about how election results would be generated, verified and eventually declared.
The Obidient Movement also took issue with the INEC chairman’s warning to Nigerians and media organisations against announcing or declaring results that were not released by the commission.
According to the movement, while INEC had the statutory authority to declare official results, the warning was troubling because it came at a time when the commission was pushing an AI framework that had not been finalised.
It said: “We are equally concerned by the INEC chairman’s warning to Nigerians and media organisations against announcing or declaring results that do not come from INEC.
“While the commission has the statutory authority to declare official results, such warnings, coming at a time when INEC is simultaneously pushing an unfinalised AI framework, raise serious questions about what the commission is trying to control and why.”
The movement further alleged that the developments had reinforced concerns about alleged links between INEC, the All Progressives Congress (APC) and the administration of President Bola Tinubu.
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It, however, acknowledged that there were only “rumours” of the INEC chairman being in France with Tinubu, FCT Minister Nyesom Wike and other APC political actors to allegedly discuss strategies for the 2027 elections.
The group linked the alleged meeting to what it described as Wike’s renewed confidence about who would be allowed to win or lose in the 2027 elections.
It also accused INEC of failing to address fundamental issues in the electoral process, arguing that the problems witnessed in 2023 were not caused by a lack of technology.
The movement said the alleged alterations and defacing of election result sheets in 2023 demonstrated the need for stronger transparency and accountability rather than greater reliance on technology.
It noted that Nigerians wanted an electoral system in which every result could be traced from the polling unit to the final declaration and independently verified by political parties, observers, journalists and citizens.
The movement demanded that INEC immediately abandon plans to use AI in results collation and publish a clear, transparent and independently auditable framework for every technology to be deployed in the electoral process.
It also called on the commission to ensure that results remained traceable to polling units and verifiable by stakeholders, while urging it to adopt five commitments proposed by Mundus Analytics, including the publication of Forms EC8A, EC8B, EC8C, EC8D and EC8E on the INEC Result Viewing (IReV) portal.
The group further demanded a guarantee that voters, rather than political actors or INEC officials, would determine the outcome of the 2027 elections.
“The votes of Nigerians belong to Nigerians. No algorithm, server, software, official or political party has the right to alter the wishes of the people,” it said.
The Obidient Movement urged the INEC chairman to “retrace his steps while there is still time”, insisting that Nigerians would not surrender their votes to technology, bureaucracy or manipulation in 2027.
“Every vote must count, every result must be verifiable, and the true choice of the Nigerian people must prevail. The mandate belongs to the people,” the statement said.
