Amupitan denies owning pro-APC X account

The Chairman of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), Prof. Joash Amupitan, has denied owning or 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 referred to the Department of State Services (DSS) and the office of the Inspector-General of Police, adding that an independent investigative 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, with the theme, “Nigeria’s 2027 Elections: Democratic Trajectory and Regional Stability Beyond the Ballot.” Responding to a question on whether an independent investigation had established that he was not behind the disputed account, the INEC chairman said the matter had been reported to the relevant security agencies.

“We have an independent report and the matter was also reported to the DSS as well as to the IG,” he said. Amupitan maintained that he had never operated an X account, explaining that his attempt to contact the social media platform to address the allegation was unsuccessful because he was not a registered user. “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.

He further disclosed that some civil society organisations had expressed interest in investigating the controversy. Insisting that he had never operated the disputed account, Amupitan said his regular email platform was Yahoo. “I have my Yahoo mail. I check Yahoo mail. It was never my account. And that is the truth,” he said. The INEC chairman also suggested that the timing of the controversy was part of an attempt to discredit him and undermine the electoral commission, linking its emergence to a court ruling concerning the African Democratic Congress (ADC) and the interpretation of the status quo ante bellum order.

“Remember the background. That issue came up when the court ruled that ADC had an issue, and the concept of status quo ante bellum. I don’t want to go back into it. But at the same time, it came about that time,” he said. He added that attempts to discredit the commission could be channelled through attacks on its leadership. “The only way that people could bring down an institution was to say, ‘Oh, this person,’” he said.

Amupitan also dismissed other allegations previously levelled against him, including claims that he was a member of President Tinubu’s legal team and that he made false claims about his educational background. He said investigations by the DSS and the police had established that the allegations were 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. So there were also investigations from DSS, from the police. And those things were not true,” he said. The INEC chairman expressed confidence in the commission’s preparations for the 2027 general elections, assuring that the forthcoming exercise would be one Nigerians would be proud of.