The African Democratic Congress (ADC) has called on Professor Joash Ojo Amupitan, Chairman of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), to step down immediately, citing fresh allegations of bias towards the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) based on archived social media posts.
The opposition party, which has previously criticised Amupitan’s leadership, made the demand on Saturday while reacting to claims that old tweets from an X (formerly Twitter) account linked to him showed pro-APC sentiments, including expressions perceived as supportive of President Bola Ahmed Tinubu.
The controversy intensified after US-based Nigerian scholar Farooq Kperogi published a column highlighting the alleged posts. Kperogi argued that the tweets undermine public confidence in INEC’s neutrality and urged the chairman to resign. He shared excerpts of the column on his X handle, sparking divided reactions on social media over the authenticity and implications of the posts.
In response to the allegations, Adedayo Oketola, Chief Press Secretary and Media Adviser to the INEC Chairman, had earlier warned of impersonators and cybercriminals using fake identities to spread misinformation. He reaffirmed INEC’s commitment under Amupitan to conducting free, fair, and credible elections, and advised the public to rely solely on the commission’s verified communication channels.
However, the ADC dismissed these concerns. In a strongly worded statement, the party’s spokesman, Bolaji Abdullahi, described the revelations as “a grave affront to the integrity of our electoral system.”
“The recent revelation linking a pro-Bola Ahmed Tinubu tweet of 2023 to the Chairman of the Independent National Electoral Commission, Professor Amupitan, is not merely disturbing, it is a grave affront to the integrity of our electoral system,” Abdullahi said.
He stressed that in a democracy, the electoral umpire “must be above suspicion” and “must not only be independent, he must be seen, beyond any reasonable doubt, to be independent.”
Abdullahi further condemned what he called “the desperate attempt to tamper with digital records, to erase evidence of his previous partisanship,” describing it as “a calculated assault on truth and accountability.”
“A man who manipulates records to save himself cannot be trusted to safeguard the mandate of millions,” he added. “The referee cannot be running around in the shirt of one of the teams he’s supposed to officiate in a match.”
The ADC spokesman declared that Professor Amupitan “must resign. Now.” He warned that anything less would be “an insult to the Nigerian people and a dangerous precedent for our democracy.”
The party announced plans to update its petitions to relevant institutions, including foreign governments and the Nigerian Bar Association (NBA), and vowed to renew and escalate civil disobedience actions until the INEC Chairman leaves office.
Professor Amupitan, a Senior Advocate of Nigeria (SAN) and professor of law, was sworn in as INEC Chairman in October 2025, succeeding Professor Mahmood Yakubu.
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