The African Democratic Congress (ADC) has intensified calls for the immediate resignation of Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) Chairman, Professor Joash Ojo Amupitan (SAN), citing newly surfaced digital evidence of his alleged partisan support for President Bola Ahmed Tinubu and the All Progressives Congress (APC) ahead of the 2023 elections.
In a statement issued on Saturday by it’s spokesperson Bolaji Abdullahi, the opposition coalition described the revelations as “a grave affront to the integrity of our electoral system.”
Bolaji argued that the electoral umpire must remain above suspicion and that any perception of bias undermines public confidence in Nigeria’s democracy, especially with the 2027 general elections on the horizon.
The controversy centers on an X (formerly Twitter) account linked to Amupitan that reportedly replied to an APC post in March 2023 with the message “Victory is sure.” Open-source intelligence (OSINT) investigations, widely shared on social media, connect the account, later renamed and set to protected, to Amupitan’s professional email address, amupitanj@yahoo.com, as listed in his publicly available curriculum vitae from his time as a professor at the University of Jos. The CV also references his institutional email and phone number, which align with details tied to the account.
Screenshots circulating online show the account’s activity, including apparent support for Tinubu (often referred to as “Asiwaju”), followed by claims of deletions, username changes, and privacy adjustments shortly after Amupitan’s appointment as INEC Chairman in late 2025 by President Tinubu. Critics view these actions as an attempt to “tamper with digital records” and erase evidence of partisanship.
A formal petition from the ADC, dated April 8, accuses the INEC leadership of bias, constitutional breaches, and actions threatening multi-party democracy. ADC National Chairman, Senator David Mark, has echoed these concerns in recent press conferences, demanding the resignation or removal of Amupitan and all national commissioners to restore trust in the commission.
The ADC announced plans to update petitions to relevant institutions, including foreign governments and the Nigerian Bar Association (NBA), while escalating civil disobedience campaigns until the chairman steps down. “A man who manipulates records to save himself cannot be trusted to safeguard the mandate of millions,” the statement read. “The referee cannot be running around in the shirt of one of the teams he’s supposed to officiate.”
INEC and Professor Amupitan have not issued a detailed public response to the latest social media evidence as of this reporting, though earlier reports indicate the chairman has vowed to track and prosecute those responsible for what he describes as fabricated or circulated old tweets. Supporters dismiss the allegations as desperate opposition tactics, noting that many political figures have shifted affiliations over time.
