Electoral chief says independent report has been obtained over alleged 2023 election posts, insists controversy is aimed at discrediting him and the commission.
The Chairman of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), Professor Joash Amupitan, has denied operating an X account allegedly used to express support for President Bola Tinubu and the All Progressives Congress (APC) during the 2023 general election.
Amupitan disclosed that the controversy had been reported to the Department of State Services (DSS) and the office of the Inspector-General of Police, adding that an independent report had also been obtained.
He spoke on Thursday during a dialogue at Chatham House in London, organised in partnership with the Kimpact Development Initiative, where he insisted that he had never operated an X account.
According to him, attempts to contact the social media platform to address the allegation were unsuccessful because he did not have an account. He also dismissed claims that he was a member of President Tinubu’s legal team or had made false statements about his educational background, saying investigations by security agencies found the allegations to be unfounded.
The INEC chairman suggested that the controversy was intended to undermine his credibility and that of the electoral commission, particularly amid public scrutiny of the institution ahead of the 2027 general election.
The allegation followed claims that an X account with the handle @joashamupitan had expressed support for the APC during the 2023 election. The account reportedly responded to a post by former APC National Youth Leader, Dayo Israel, celebrating the party’s victory in a predominantly Igbo community in Lagos, with the words, “Victory is sure.”
INEC had previously dismissed the account as fraudulent, alleging that impostors created accounts in Amupitan’s name to mislead members of the public. The commission said it was working with security agencies and cyber-intelligence units to identify those responsible.
However, an investigation by the International Centre for Investigative Reporting, republished by FactCheckHub, reportedly found similarities between partially concealed email and phone details displayed by X for account recovery and contact information associated with Amupitan.
The report noted that conclusively identifying the account operator would require access to X records, including login history, IP addresses and device information, which were not publicly available.
INEC’s Director of Information and Communication Technology, Lawrence Bayode, had also said the commission was yet to obtain verified forensic evidence linking Amupitan to the account.
Amupitan, however, expressed confidence in INEC’s preparations for the 2027 general election, saying the commission was working towards delivering an election Nigerians would be proud of.