The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) stands at yet another perilous crossroads. Barely six months after Professor Joash Ojo Amupitan (SAN) assumed office as its Chairman, a storm of credible allegations has erupted that strikes at the very heart of the Commission’s claim to impartiality. A 2023 X (formerly Twitter) account bearing his full name, tied to the personal Yahoo email listed on his publicly available University of Jos CV, posted the telling words “Victory is sure” in enthusiastic reply to an APC youth leader celebrating electoral gains in an Igbo-dominated area.
Within hours of the screenshots resurfacing on April 10, 2026, the account was hurriedly renamed @Sundayvibe00, locked, and rebranded as a “parody.” The optics are devastating.
INEC’s swift denial – that the Chairman has “no X account,” that the posts are “baseless fabrications” and the work of “cybercriminals” – is predictable but woefully inadequate. Nigerians have heard such blanket dismissals before. The circumstantial evidence is simply too compelling to wave away: the account was created in September 2022, used his exact name and personal email, and was active during the 2023 election season. Even if one accepts the improbable notion of a sophisticated impersonator who somehow accessed his CV email and phone details, the lightning-speed sanitisation of the account after exposure suggests panic, not innocence. In the court of public opinion – and for an electoral umpire, that court matters more than any other – perception is reality.
This is not an isolated lapse. Professor Amupitan’s very appointment by President Bola Tinubu in October 2025 raised legitimate questions about neutrality. History shows that electoral commissions thrive when their leadership is seen to be deliberately distanced from the appointing authority, especially one whose party will contest the next polls. Instead, we have a Chairman whose past digital footprint now paints him as an enthusiastic APC sympathiser at the precise moment when INEC is adjudicating bitter leadership disputes in opposition parties, most notably the African Democratic Congress (ADC). The Commission’s decisions in those matters have already triggered resignations demands from ADC chieftains like Sen. David Mark and diaspora groups. When an umpire is accused of wearing the jersey of one team, every ruling becomes suspect.
The deeper tragedy is what this does to public trust. Successive INEC leaderships have left Nigerians with a bitter legacy of disputed results, logistical chaos, and allegations of compromise. Surveys have consistently shown that a majority of citizens approach elections with deep scepticism.
Professor Amupitan himself has publicly acknowledged this “palpable” trust deficit. Yet rather than healing it through radical transparency – perhaps by volunteering forensic examination of the X account data or full disclosure of his digital history – the response has been defensive stonewalling and appeals to constitutional independence.
Independence is not a shield against accountability. The Chairman does not hold office at the pleasure of political parties, true; but neither does he hold it at the pleasure of the ruling party or his own past utterances. With the 2027 general elections already casting long shadows, and off-cycle polls looming, Nigeria cannot afford an INEC whose leadership is mired in partisanship allegations. Voter apathy, post-election litigation, and even violence become more likely when the referee is distrusted before the first whistle.
We do not make this call lightly. Professor Amupitan is a respected Senior Advocate and academic. But the office he occupies demands more than legal erudition; it demands unimpeachable moral authority and the ability to inspire confidence across the political divide. That confidence has now evaporated. The honourable path – the path that would demonstrate genuine commitment to Nigeria’s democracy – is for him to resign immediately. Let him step aside with dignity, allowing the Senate and the President to appoint a fresh, untainted leadership that can begin the urgent work of rebuilding trust.
Nigeria’s democracy has survived worse. But it cannot survive an electoral commission that the people no longer believe in. Professor Amupitan, for the sake of the nation you are sworn to serve impartially, resign now. The institution you lead, and the 2027 elections it must deliver, are far bigger than any one individual.
