The 2023 presidential candidate of the Social Democratic Party, SDP, Adewole Adebayo, has raised concerns over the suitability of the Chairman of the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, Joash Amupitan, if an alleged X account linked to him turns out to be his after his denial.
Speaking on Channels Television’s Sunday Politics, Adebayo said the controversy goes beyond technical arguments and touches on public trust in the electoral umpire.
However, INEC said no verified forensic evidence links Amupitan to the said post, nothing that Grok, the platform’s artificial intelligence, can hallucinate.
INEC’s Director of Information and Communication Technology, Lawrence Bayode, stated this during an interview on Channels Television’s, The Morning Brief on Monday.
Adebayo
According to Adebayo, “If it is traced to him and he denies it, then it raises questions about integrity,” he said.
He explained that while digital content can be manipulated, modern forensic tools make it possible to determine the true ownership of online accounts.
“It is well known that in the digital space, you could manipulate anything, but there is forensic tracing of identity,” Adebayo stated.
According to him, the issue can be resolved either through the courts or a legislative inquiry by the National Assembly.
“It is either someone will go to court to challenge his qualification on grounds of partisanship and present evidence or the National Assembly will conduct an investigation, possibly through its INEC committees,” he added.
The former presidential candidate, however, clarified that even if the account is proven to belong to Amupitan, it does not automatically disqualify him from office under the law.
“The requirement is that at the time of appointment, you should not be a member of any political party. It does not mean you could not have been a member in the past or that you did not vote. Someone who voted in 2023 can still become INEC chairman in 2025,” he said.
Adebayo stressed that the key issue remains honesty and public confidence in the electoral body.
“In a simple matter like this, if you are already lying to the public and we are to trust you with determining election outcomes, then it becomes a question of integrity,” he added.
INEC reacts
According to INEC’s Director of Information and Communication Technology, Bayode, “Even though we are seeing that some guys have carried out a forensic investigation on that account, as we speak, there is no verified forensic evidence linking the chairman to the post.
“We are taking this further even though we have referred this to security agencies, and as I said, we rely on evidence. We are also going to be engaging a third-party forensic expert to help look at this.
“We are also looking at it in-house. I will not base my judgment on the screenshot; I will not allow that to guide my conclusion.
“I know that the commission will engage a third-party expert to also look at this, and that will guide the conclusion of the commission.
“Grok honestly can hallucinate just like any modern artificial intelligence system, and I think the key is to verify important information, especially for decision or public communication.
“So any AI system can hallucinate, and so Grok can also hallucinate,” he stated.
Bayode also noted that a social media account could be opened using someone else’s email address.
“If people can hack into your system if it’s not well protected, if not for a time like this where our social media platforms are protected by two-factor authentication,” he added.
The post X Post: ‘Grok can hallucinate’ – INEC; ‘If Amupitan denies, integrity is in question’ — Adebayo appeared first on Vanguard News.
