The credibility of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC)’s chairman Joash Amupitan has been called into question after old posts from an X profile linked to an account bearing his name, which supported Tinubu and identified with the All Progressive Congress (APC), resurfaced. The account, @joashamupitan, created in September 2022 had posted responses including ‘victory is sure’ to partisan posts on X made by Dayo Isreal, the APC national youth leader and special adviser to Tinubu. 

Immediately after the old tweets were discovered, the handle was quickly changed to @Sundayvibe00 and old posts deleted, before it was rechristened as a parody account. 

Simultaneously, a new account with the @joashamupitan handle was created on 10 April which has paid to be verified. This account, which purports to belong to Amupitan, posts only INEC related content, and posted a rebuttal of the claims that the INEC chairman had previously shared a pro-APC tweet. 

On 10 April, INEC issued a statement denying that Amupitan was on social media and urged Nigerians to ignore the story. However, the INEC statement was first posted by Dayo Isreal nearly 24 hours before INEC’s statement, further raising questions about the chair’s links to the APC. In a statement on 12 April, INEC claimed that it only reposted the post from Dayo Isreal’s handle to amplify the message – an explanation that critics may find unconvincing. 

This controversy comes days after the INEC rescinded its recognition of the African Democratic Congress (ADC) leadership, a move seen by many as an effort to disrupt the momentum the ADC had recently gained ahead of its convention this week. On 11 April, after the X posts were exposed, ADC spokesman Bolaji Abdullahi urged Amupitan to resign. 

Abdullahi argued that the efforts to cover up his digital footprint after the tweets were discovered was worse than the event itself, suggesting that it was a sign that he could not be trusted. 

This is not the first time Amupitan has faced calls for his dismissal. These calls have become a recurring theme before any major election, though there are no signs from Tinubu that this will happen. 

As a result, the opposition will have to work around Amupitan. They will likely feel the need to put pressure on INEC to provide some form of transparency that ensures the polls are not heavily rigged in favour of the sitting president.