Former Vice President Atiku Abubakar has challenged the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) to publicly identify the officers and third-party contractors responsible for the alleged artificial intelligence-generated images and irregularities found in the newly released preliminary voter register.

In a statement issued on Friday through his spokesperson, Phrank Shaibu, Atiku condemned INEC's handling of the crisis, describing the electoral body’s admission that registration officers compromised the system using official login credentials as a "disgraceful evasion" of accountability.

Atiku specifically targeted recent comments made by INEC Chairman Professor Joash Amupitan through the commission's ICT Director, Dr. Lawrence Bayode, who stated that the agency knows what officers did but remains unaware of why they did it.

"Publish the contractors' identities and explain the safeguards governing their work," Atiku demanded, warning the commission against quietly cleaning up the register to bury incriminating evidence.

Amid mounting pressure from opposition parties over concerns that over 20 million AI-generated images may have infiltrated the database, Atiku insisted that nothing short of a comprehensive, independent forensic audit would satisfy public demand for electoral integrity.

The release of the preliminary voter register ahead of upcoming electoral cycles has faced intense scrutiny, with political stakeholders raising alarms over data integrity and the unexplained appearance of digital anomalies.

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