Nigeria’s 2027 elections face a new and dangerous threat — and it’s not just fake news.
The Engage Empower Educate Initiative has just launched “Peace by Design: Responsible AI for Peace in Africa”, a bold continent-wide project to stop artificial intelligence from being weaponised to hijack Nigeria’s elections.
And the warning is urgent. Forget poorly photoshopped pictures. We are now dealing with deepfakes — hyper-realistic videos and voice clones of politicians, pastors, and public figures that look and sound 100% real.
They are cheap to make, fast to spread, and almost impossible to detect once they hit WhatsApp.
One fake video can travel across thousands of groups in minutes and change how millions vote — or whether they believe the result at all.
“We built Peace by Design because we saw the danger before it became a crisis,” said Belema Meshack-Hart, Founder of Engage Empower Educate Initiative. “A fabricated video of a candidate can spread across WhatsApp in minutes. This is a direct threat to the integrity of the election and to the peace of the country afterward.”
What ‘Peace by Design’ Will Do
The project’s flagship campaign is #VerifyBeforeYouShare — a nationwide, non-partisan push to meet Nigerians where disinformation actually lives: WhatsApp, radio, Facebook, and local languages.
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Here’s what is coming:
• Digital Peace Ambassadors: A trained network of young fact-checkers in all regions
• Rapid-Response Desk: To debunk election deepfakes in real-time
• No-Deepfake Pledge: Pressuring political parties, candidates and platforms to publicly commit not to use or share AI fakes
Ezinne Okoro, who led the AI and peace communication workshop at the International Peace Summit 2.0, is joining the effort.
“What we heard in that room made clear this isn’t a future risk, it’s happening now,” Okoro said. “Communities need the tools to recognize manipulation in real time, before ballots are cast.”
The Initiative is calling out major tech platforms operating in Nigeria to step up.
Its demands are clear: Label all AI-generated content clearly; Take down election-related deepfakes faster; Invest in real moderation for Hausa, Yoruba, Igbo and Pidgin — not just English.
“Every day this goes unaddressed is a day disinformation gets a head start,” Meshack-Hart warned.
Peace by Design was born at the International Peace Summit 2.0. Now the team is calling on AI developers, fact-checkers, and funders to join before the campaign season peaks.
Because in 2027, the fight for peace may start not at the polling unit, but on your phone.
Have you seen a suspicious video or voice note of a politician lately? Don’t forward it. Verify it first.
