A screenshot of a 2023 tweet allegedly posted by Professor Joash Ojo Amupitan, now chairman of the Independent National Electoral Commission, has resurfaced and is being shared widely as evidence of partisan ties that critics argue disqualify him from leading Nigeria’s electoral body.
The tweet, which was reportedly deleted, showed Amupitan celebrating All Progressives Congress victories in polling units, a public expression of political preference that opponents say is incompatible with the neutrality required of someone who oversees elections.
The post, shared by the account ParallelFacts, has reignited calls for Amupitan’s resignation from opposition figures and parties including the African Democratic Congress, which has accused INEC under his leadership of bias and of making decisions, such as derecognising certain party leaderships, that favour the ruling party ahead of the 2027 elections.
The timing of the tweet’s resurfacing is politically significant. Amupitan’s appointment as INEC chairman was controversial from the start, with opposition parties questioning whether someone with perceived APC sympathies could be trusted to conduct fair elections. The president appoints the INEC chairman, a structural reality that makes claims of independence difficult to sustain even in the best of circumstances. When the appointee has a documented history of celebrating the victories of the party that appointed him, the appearance of bias becomes impossible to dismiss, regardless of whatever assurances of neutrality are offered.
The content of the tweet, celebrating APC wins in polling units, is damning because it shows not just preference but active investment in the party’s success at the most granular level of electoral competition.
Polling units are where elections are won or lost, and someone celebrating APC victories there is not a passive observer. They are a partisan, and the role of INEC chairman requires the exact opposite.
The chairman must be, or at least must appear to be, above party politics, indifferent to outcomes, and committed solely to the integrity of the process. A tweet celebrating one party’s success destroys that appearance and provides concrete evidence that neutrality, if it exists at all, is performative rather than genuine….See More
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