OPEN LETTER: “How did Africa’s largest democracy’s voters’ register contain AI-created identities, fictitious faces and non-existent human beings?” Akin Ricketts asks Amupitan
By KEMI KASUMU
The Central Cross River Senatorial Candidate of the African Democratic Congress (ADC) for the 2027 general elections, Chief Akin Ricketts, has questioned the Chairman of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), Professor Joash Amupitan (SAN), over allegations that the Commission’s preliminary voters’ register released on October 14, 2026, contains fictitious and AI-generated identities.
In an open letter addressed to Amupitan, Ricketts expressed shock and disappointment over the alleged inclusion of computer-generated identities, synthetic faces, digital avatars and non-existent individuals in the register, considered by many as unprecedented in the history of democratic practice in Nigeria.
Ricketts acknowledged Amupitan’s academic achievements, legal credentials and professional record, saying his appointment as INEC chairman had raised hopes of restoring credibility and public confidence in Nigeria’s electoral system.
He, however, called for answers over the alleged irregularities, describing the development as a matter of serious national concern.
How Sir, did we arrive at a point where the preliminary voters’ register released by your commission on October 14, 2026 contains fictitious, computer-generated, and Artificial Intelligence (AI) created identities? How did synthetic faces, digital avatars and non-existent human beings find their way onto the official voter roll of Africa’s largest democracy?
Read Full Text of the Open Letter below:
AN OPEN LETTER TO PROFESSOR JOASH OJO AMUPITAN ON THE ARTIFICIAL FACES INVADING NIGERIA’S VOTERS’ REGISTER BY CHIEF AKIN RICKETTS
Dear Professor Joash Amupitan, SAN
I write to you today with a heavy heart, constrained by the overwhelming weight of patriotic duty to address a matter of severe national consequence.
Let me state clearly that, from the onset, I never hesitated to hold you in exceptionally high regard. Your stellar academic pedigree, your rise to the pinnacle of the legal profession as a Senior Advocate of Nigeria, and your decades of unblemished service in the temple of justice precede you.
When your appointment as the Chairman of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) was announced, many of us dared to hope. We believed that a man of your profound intellect and legal gravitas would be the long-awaited institutional savior who would restore sanctity, credibility and global respect to Nigeria’s battered electoral system.
It is precisely on this premise of high esteem that I must express my deep disgust, utter embarrassment and profound shock at the scandalous revelation currently rocking the Independent National Electoral Commission under your watch.
How Sir, did we arrive at a point where the preliminary voters’ register released by your commission on October 14, 2026 contains fictitious, computer-generated, and Artificial Intelligence (AI) created identities? How did synthetic faces, digital avatars and non-existent human beings find their way onto the official voter roll of Africa’s largest democracy?
Professor Amupitan, you are on the precipice of dragging a name built over decades of painstaking legal scholarship into the gutter.
Let’s call a spade what it is: what has occurred under your watch is nothing but a monumental crime against the Nigerian state. Section 114 and Section 117 of the Electoral Act 2022 strictly prohibit the procurement of false entries, double registration and the inclusion of fictitious persons in the voters’ register. Subsection 1(f) explicitly establishes that any official who procures or aids the registration of a fictitious person commits an electoral offense punishable by law.
Furthermore, under Section 465 and Section 467 of the Criminal Code Act, as well as the Cybercrimes (Prohibition, Prevention, etc.) Act, the creation and insertion of forged digital identities into an official public database constitutes criminal forgery and identity theft. By allowing synthetic AI entries to pollute the register of 93.4 million voters, your commission is actively facilitating systemic electoral fraud.
Permit me to ask you a few fundamental questions,
Is this the grand legacy you promised the legal community when you took the oath of office? Did you spend a lifetime mastering the fine points of Nigerian jurisprudence only to become the chief custodian of algorithmic voter fraud?
Are we supposed to believe that the machine learning models of Silicon Valley have suddenly acquired Nigerian citizenship, complete with local government origin and polling unit assignments? Or is this sophisticated digital phantom simply the latest innovation designed to deliver guaranteed electoral returns for the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC)?
Has the Commission under your leadership diminished its solemn duty into an outsourced IT arm of the ruling party’s campaign council?
Must the integrity of our elections be sacrificed on the altar of partisan expediency just to satisfy the electoral appetite of those currently in power?
The statistics exposed by civil society audits on October 22, 2026 reveal that over 185,000 suspect entries featuring digitally smoothed skin, symmetrical AI artifacts and repeated facial templates were identified across multiple registration centers. To present such a compromised database to 200 million Nigerians as a credible foundation for democratic choice is a slap in the face of our collective intelligence.
My Dear Professor, power is transient. The politicians who pressure institution heads to compromise their integrity today will not be there to share the burden of public disgrace tomorrow.
Do not allow yourself to be used as a pawn in a game that will ultimately destroy your hard-earned reputation.
You still have a brief window to halt this drift into ignominy, order a comprehensive independent audit, purge the register and prosecute the internal saboteurs who orchestrated this fraud.
I am speaking from a place of deep concern and an abiding love for our fatherland and in your case, the ball is firmly in your court to do the right thing.
May God give you the courage to do what is right as time is of the essence.
May He open your eyes to the danger you are blindly walking into.
As He protects Nigeria from those who prefer darkness to light.
Yours sincerely,
Chief Akin Ricketts
ADC Senatorial Candidate, Central Cross River 2027.
