Boniface Okoro in Umuahia
The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) has cautioned journalists against amplifying unverified election outcomes, manipulated content material and misinformation able to undermining public confidence within the 2027 basic election.
The Resident Electoral Commissioner (REC) for Abia State, Prof. Sylvia Uchenna Agu, gave the warning on the ongoing 2026 Media Retreat and Press Week of the Correspondents Chapel of the Nigeria Union of Journalists (NUJ), Abia State Council, holding in Umuahia.
Speaking on the theme: “Safeguarding Electoral Integrity in the Digital Age: INEC and the Media Ahead of the 2027 General Election,” Agu recognized misinformation, disinformation, synthetic intelligence-generated deepfakes, cloned voices and manipulated consequence sheets as rising threats to electoral credibility.
She urged media organisations to prioritise verification over pace, warning that the race to interrupt information should not come on the expense of nationwide stability and public belief. “The race to break the news must not break the nation,” she cautioned.
She suggested practitioners to cross-check election-related info with INEC earlier than publishing and to keep away from declaring outcomes primarily based on unauthorised sources, noting that failure to confirm might expose information organisations to credibility challenges.
Agu referred to as on the media to help voter training by explaining related provisions of the Electoral Act, 2026, notably these regarding voter accreditation, digital transmission of outcomes and transparency.
She stated the brand new authorized framework had strengthened safeguards, citing provisions mandating using the Bimodal Voter Accreditation System (BVAS) for accreditation and digital transmission of polling unit outcomes to INEC’s Result Viewing Portal (IReV), with penalties for officers who intentionally frustrate transmission.
On technological preparedness, Agu stated INEC was constructing on classes from earlier elections to enhance BVAS, IReV, the digital EC8A and its Result Management System, including that the digital EC8A was designed to detect inconsistencies between manually accomplished consequence sheets and electronically captured outcomes.
She recalled how BVAS helped detect alleged manipulation in an Abia native authorities space in the course of the 2023 elections, the place BVAS recorded 27,000 accredited voters however the determine was allegedly altered manually to 102,000. “BVAS was the game changer in 2023. It checkmated frivolous accreditations,” she stated.
The REC assured Nigerians that INEC was strengthening cybersecurity, defending election knowledge, enhancing system monitoring and enhancing catastrophe restoration, whereas exploring accountable software of synthetic intelligence with human oversight.
She described the media as a essential constitutional associate below Section 22 of the 1999 Constitution, however urged journalists to stability their watchdog function with ethics, accuracy and accountable reporting.
Agu assured journalists of INEC’s continued openness to engagement and its dedication to conducting free, honest, credible and inclusive elections in 2027. Over 30 media practitioners participated within the retreat.
