The Chairman of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), Prof. 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 said the controversy had been reported to the Department of State Services (DSS) and the Inspector-General of Police, adding that an independent investigation report had been obtained.
He spoke on Thursday during a dialogue at Chatham House in London, organised in partnership with the Kimpact Development Initiative, with the theme, “Nigeria’s 2027 Elections: Democratic Trajectory and Regional Stability Beyond the Ballot.”
Responding to questions about the alleged account and whether an independent investigation had established his innocence, the INEC chairman said he had never operated an X account.
“We have an independent report and the matter was also reported to the DSS as well as to the IG,” he said.
He explained that his attempts to contact X over the allegation were unsuccessful because he did not have an account on the platform.
“I never had an X account. I tried to get in touch with X, but there’s no way if you don’t have an account,” he said.
Amupitan added that some civil society organisations had also expressed interest in investigating the controversy.
“I have my Yahoo mail. I check Yahoo mail. It was never my account. And that is the truth,” he insisted.
The INEC chairman suggested that the controversy was deliberately timed to discredit him and undermine the credibility of the electoral commission.
He linked its emergence to a court ruling involving the African Democratic Congress (ADC) and the interpretation of the status quo ante bellum order.
He said attempts to associate him with partisan interests were aimed at weakening public confidence in the commission.
Amupitan also dismissed previous allegations that he was a member of Tinubu’s legal team and had made false claims about his educational background.
According to him, investigations by the DSS and the police found the allegations to be unfounded.
“There were several accusations before then. For instance, that I was a member of the legal team of the President, that I said I went to school, but that is not true. They were investigated and discovered not to be true,” he said.
He expressed confidence in INEC’s preparations for the 2027 general elections, assuring Nigerians that the commission was working towards delivering an election the country would be proud of.
The controversy followed allegations that an X account bearing the handle @joashamupitan belonged to the electoral chief and had expressed support for the APC during the 2023 elections.
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.”
The allegation raised concerns about Amupitan’s impartiality as head of the institution responsible for conducting Nigeria’s elections.
However, INEC had dismissed the claims as fabricated attempts to undermine the chairman and the commission.
In a statement issued on April 10, 2026, the chairman’s Chief Press Secretary and Media Adviser, Adedayo Oketola, alleged that fraudulent accounts had been created in Amupitan’s name to mislead and defraud members of the public.
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The commission said it was working with security agencies and cyber-intelligence units to identify those responsible.
Meanwhile, an investigation by the International Centre for Investigative Reporting, republished by FactCheckHub, reportedly identified similarities between partially concealed email and phone details displayed by X for account recovery and contact information associated with Amupitan.
However, 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 and was considering an independent forensic examination.
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