Davidson Iriekpen writes that the Chairman of the Independent National Electoral Commission, Professor Joash Amupitan, has been involved in a number of scandals, the most recent of which involves accusations of bias. This has raised concerns about the commission’s neutrality as the 2027 general election approaches.
Professor Joash Amupitan, the Chairman of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), has been in the news a lot in the past seven weeks. People are suspicious of all of his actions and inactions, whether it’s fixing the 2027 election during Ramadan, pushing to revalidate permanent voter cards that many thought could disenfranchise millions, or intervening in the African Democratic Congress’s (ADC) internal crisis.
His problems started last year, right after he was appointed. At the time, the United States declared Nigeria a Country of Particular Concern (CPC) because of the genocide against Christians. His legal brief, which was published in 2020 and called “Nigeria’s Silent Slaughter: Genocide in Nigeria – The Implications for the International Community,” said that attacks by Boko Haram and Fulani herdsmen were genocide against Christians and minority groups in Nigeria.
Many Muslim groups in the country accused President Bola Tinubu of bias and called for him to withdraw his nomination. They also called for the National Assembly to refuse to confirm him.
After that, there were false claims that he worked on the legal team for President Tinubu or the All Progressives Party (APC), which were proven to be false.
A new accusation has come to light that ties him to pro-APC activity during the 2023 general election. This raises more questions about the commission’s neutrality before the 2027 general election.
The argument, which started on April 10, 2026, was about claims that an X account, which was said to be linked to him, posted partisan content in support of the APC during the 2023 general election.
The report said that open-source intelligence (OSINT) found a Yahoo email address and a phone number that matched the one on Amupitan’s public University of Jos CV. This email address and phone number were linked to an X (formerly Twitter) account that posted “Victory is sure” in response to a tweet by Dayo Israel, who was the APC National Youth Leader at the time, on March 18, 2023.
Israel’s post was about how the APC won a polling unit in an area with a lot of Igbo people during the 2023 elections. Amupitan’s supposed response was shown as clear proof of partisan alignment, even though the INEC Chairman has repeatedly said that he is not political.
Screenshots of the conversation have been widely shared, and there are signs that the account was later renamed or made private, which has led to even more scrutiny of the supposed digital trail.
But as soon as the claim came out, INEC denied it completely, calling it “entirely baseless, a total fabrication, and a figment of the imagination of its purveyors.”
The commission said again that Prof. Amupitan does not own or run any accounts on X and has never been involved in politics. It also called the claims part of a “malicious and coordinated campaign of calumny” meant to make people lose faith in the electoral body.
The electoral umpire also said that cybercriminals often make fake accounts in the names of public officials. It is working with security agencies to find out who is behind these crimes.
Even though he denied it, the discovery of his alleged personal email and phone number links to his OPay account has made the situation much worse, with opposition leaders calling for his resignation.
Some people have also said that he wasn’t the chairman of INEC when he supposedly tweeted, while others thought that the tweet showed he was biased.
The opposition African Democratic Congress (ADC), on the other hand, called for his immediate resignation because they thought he was biased. They said that the claim that he was linked to a pro-Tinubu tweet was not only disturbing, but also a serious attack on the integrity of the electoral system.
Bolaji Abdullahi, the party’s National Publicity Secretary, said in a statement, “In a democracy, the umpire must be above suspicion.” He needs to be independent, and people should be able to see that he is independent beyond a reasonable doubt. That is the least that anyone who is given the important job of running free and fair elections should be able to do.
“However, what is even more worrying is the desperate attempt to change digital records to hide proof of his past political bias.” This isn’t a small thing. It is a planned attack on honesty and responsibility. You can’t trust a man who changes records to protect himself to protect the rights of millions.
Adewole Adebayo, the Social Democratic Party’s (SDP) candidate for president in 2023, on the other hand, has a different view. He said that even if it could be proven that the account belonged to Amupitan, it would not automatically make him ineligible to hold office under the law.
“You can’t be a member of a political party when you get the job.” It doesn’t mean you couldn’t have been a member before or that you didn’t vote. He said, “Someone who voted in 2023 can still be the INEC chairman in 2025.”
If it turned out that the account really did belong to the INEC chair, Adebayo said that the issue of integrity would be very important.
But Gbenga Sesan, a technology expert, questioned INEC’s outright denial that the chairman ever had an X account and called for more investigation. He said that digital archiving tools show that there used to be an account with Amupitan’s name on it.
The tech expert also said that to make a social media account, you usually need to have a registered email address or phone number. This suggests that these links could help prove ownership. He said that INEC’s response was unhelpful and criticized it.
“To be honest, you can’t open an account with someone’s email or phone number unless you can see the verification messages they get. INEC’s denial doesn’t hold up, and that’s too bad. Sesan said, “When institutions quickly dismiss problems, they often get more people interested.”
Comrade IG Wala, a lawyer, said that publicly denying ownership of certain digital assets could make him criminally liable for perjury and abuse of state power.
The author said that public space had already found connections between the account in question and Amupitan’s personal email, phone number, and an OPay account.
Wala also said that banks like OPay have to follow strict Know Your Customer (KYC) rules.
He said that if a subpoena is issued, giving the BVN and NIN used to verify that account would be proof of ownership that can’t be denied.
He then warned against the strategy of denial, along with reported threats to arrest people who were drawing attention to supposed digital links. This could turn the situation from a reputational issue into a full-blown criminal case.
Amupitan should understand that the position of INEC Chairman is not just a public office; it is important in a democracy as these claims fade away. This is especially true in Nigeria, where elections are always full of scandals and claims of cheating. People he was hired to serve will keep looking at his past and present records, which is not unusual.
So, he should see all the calls for him to step down from different groups, like opposition parties and civil society, as nothing more than a demand for accountability.
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