The Senator representing Anambra Central, Victor Umeh, says the outcome of the 2023 general election is still making a lot of Nigerians anxious as the country prepares for another round of elections in 2027.
Umeh made this known on Friday’s Politics Today, where he raised concerns surrounding the 2023 presidential election, particularly the glitch announced during the collation of results, had not been adequately addressed by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC).
“The 2023 election outcome is still giving me anxiety. It is giving everybody anxiety, not just me,” Umeh said.
The senator said Nigerians were already discussing measures such as the deployment of polling agents to strengthen the electoral process, but expressed concern about the growing role of technology and Artificial Intelligence (AI) in future elections.
“I have seen the INEC chairman in Canada talking about using Artificial Intelligence to conduct elections. That is even the most anxious one,” he said.
Umeh warned that the increasing sophistication of AI could create new avenues for manipulation, particularly through the production of highly convincing fabricated content.
“When you use Artificial Intelligence to take the head of a man and plant it on the body of a woman and it will be seamless. That is the risk in Artificial Intelligence,” he said.
He therefore urged Nigerians and electoral authorities to exercise caution in relying on AI for the conduct of elections.
“Don’t put any confidence in the deployment of Artificial Intelligence in this process,” Umeh said.
However, the senator said his immediate concern was the unresolved issue surrounding the 2023 presidential election collation process.
According to him, the glitch announced during the collation of the results remains unexplained, raising questions about the preparedness of the electoral commission for future elections.
“In 2023, what messed up the election was the announced glitch in the collation of the presidential elections,” Umeh said.
“Till today, INEC has not told us what was responsible for the glitch and Nigeria has gone past it and we are moving to another one.”
Umeh said the lack of clarity over what caused the 2023 glitch was contributing to uncertainty ahead of the 2027 elections.
“We don’t know what will come up in 2027 and we pray nothing like that happens again,” he said.
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