Obidient Movement has rejected the Independent National Electoral Commission’s plan to deploy Artificial Intelligence in the 2027 election results process.

The group demanded that INEC suspends the plan until it published a clear and independently auditable framework governing the technology.

In a statement signed by its Media and Communications Director, Onyeka Dike, the movement said Nigerians should not be subjected to an untested electoral technology.

The group said its concerns were heightened by INEC’s disclosure that its AI governance framework was still being finalised.

INEC Chairman, Prof. Joash Amupitan, recently announced the establishment of an AI division within the commission’s ICT department.

He said AI auditing tools would be integrated into the results verification process, with human oversight.

The Obidient Movement, however, said INEC should first establish clear rules on how the technology would operate.

It also demanded that every result remain traceable to the polling unit and verifiable by political parties, observers, journalists and citizens.

The group called on INEC to publish Forms EC8A, EC8B, EC8C, EC8D and EC8E on the IReV portal as part of measures to strengthen transparency.

It also criticised Amupitan’s warning to media organisations against announcing or declaring results not officially released by INEC.

The movement said the warning required greater clarification, particularly as INEC expands its use of technology in the results process.

Similarly, Yoruba Ronu Leadership Forum has warned INEC against relying on Artificial Intelligence (AI) tools in the verification and collation of results for the 2027 General Elections, describing the proposal as a “false formula” capable of undermining public confidence in the electoral process.

The group, in a statement by its President, Akin Malaolu, said while technology could improve election administration, the introduction of AI without adequate safeguards could expose election results to manipulation, hacking and data poisoning.

Malaolu said the forum became concerned following indications that INEC was considering the deployment of AI tools ahead of the 2027 elections.

He also linked the development to recent reports by a foreign newspaper claiming that Nigerian voters disliked President Bola Tinubu, as well as the subsequent rejection of the claim by the Presidency.

According to him, the sequence of developments had prompted the forum to examine the possible implications of AI-driven election verification for Nigeria’s democracy.

Malaolu said the forum’s major concern was the possibility of AI being deployed in a manner that could undermine existing statutory safeguards for the verification of election results.

He warned that any attempt by INEC to allow AI to replace statutory verification procedures, polling-unit result sheets, BVAS records or human collation officials could create new vulnerabilities in the electoral system.

Malaolu asked about the final authority when an AI system flags an anomaly in an election result, and whether such decisions would be left to INEC, the courts, political parties or election observers.