INEC Chairman Warns Against Premature Results, Clarifies IReV and AI Rules
By Tams Jonah, ABUJA – The Chairman of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), Professor Joash Amupitan (SAN), has reiterated that only the commission has the legal authority to declare election results, warning that figures generated from uploaded polling-unit results must not be mistaken for final outcomes.
Amupitan explained that election results uploaded to the INEC Result Viewing Portal (IReV) must still pass through established collation procedures before the commission can declare the final results.
“It is INEC that has the powers to declare results at all levels, because the result will still go through various processes of collation,” he said.
His clarification addresses questions about whether individuals and political parties can use artificial intelligence (AI) to analyse publicly available IReV data and announce their own election results before the official collation process is completed.
While publicly available election data can be examined using digital tools, including AI, any analysis produced by individuals, political parties or independent observers does not constitute an official declaration by INEC.
IReV allows members of the public to view images of polling-unit result sheets uploaded by electoral officials. The portal is intended to promote transparency by enabling citizens and stakeholders to scrutinise results recorded at polling units.
However, polling-unit figures are only one stage of the electoral process. Results must undergo the prescribed collation procedures at the relevant levels before authorised electoral officers declare the outcome.
AI tools can help users extract figures from uploaded result sheets, organise data, compare results across polling units and identify possible discrepancies. However, such tools may also misread handwritten figures, misinterpret unclear images, duplicate entries or produce inaccurate totals if the underlying data is incomplete.
Consequently, figures compiled through AI-assisted analysis should be independently checked against the original result sheets and treated as unofficial until the legally prescribed process is completed.
Political parties, candidates, journalists and members of the public may use available information to scrutinise election results and raise questions about possible discrepancies. Such activities, however, do not confer on them the statutory authority to declare election results.
Amupitan’s position underscores the distinction between making election information publicly accessible, independently analysing that information and formally declaring an election result.
The clarification also highlights the need for responsible use of technology during elections, particularly as AI tools become increasingly accessible and can rapidly generate summaries and projections from large volumes of data.
Prematurely presenting unofficial tallies as final results could mislead voters and create confusion while collation is still underway. Any concerns about discrepancies should therefore be supported by verifiable evidence and raised through the appropriate electoral and legal channels.
As Nigeria prepares for future elections, the use of digital platforms and AI is likely to remain part of public scrutiny of the electoral process. The central issue is ensuring that technology strengthens transparency without being mistaken for the legal procedures through which election results are verified, collated and declared.
The key distinction is that publicly available IReV data can be analysed, including with AI, but an independently generated tally is not an official election result. INEC retains the responsibility for declaring results through the legally established process.
