One of Nigeria’s largest Islamic organisations, the Council of Ulama of Jama’atu Izalatil Bid’ah Wa’ikamatis Sunnah (JIBWIS), has drawn a hard line against Professor Joash Ojo Amupitan’s leadership of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), declaring that the country’s Muslim population will never accept him as head of the nation’s electoral body.
Sheikh Sani Yahaya Jingir, National Chairman of JIBWIS, threw down the gauntlet at the close of the organisation’s 33rd annual national seminar, a three-day gathering held at the Saddeqa Event Center in Jos, demanding that the federal government reverse what he called a reckless and provocative appointment.
At the centre of JIBWIS’s fury is a legal brief Amupitan authored years ago, which critics say sought to build a case for an alleged genocide of Christians in Nigeria, a claim the Tinubu administration has repeatedly denied.
According to Jingir, that document alone should have disqualified Amupitan from ever occupying a position as consequential as the INEC chairmanship.
The cleric argued that a man who has publicly accused Muslims of committing genocide against Christians cannot be trusted to oversee free and fair elections in a deeply divided nation.
“Why is it that someone that had abused Sheikh Usman Danfodio and Muslims was appointed INEC chairman?” Jingir demanded.
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Jingir also accused Amupitan of going beyond local advocacy to actively invite foreign aggression against Nigeria, a charge that has gained traction among Muslim leaders opposed to the appointment.
“I disagree with the person that went abroad to call for an attack on Nigeria, and the government of Muslim-Muslim, take the risk of appointing him as the head of electoral umpire, it is extremely a risk of the highest order,” he said.
Similarly, Jingir criticised the National Assembly, questioning why lawmakers have remained silent while a figure he considers deeply divisive sits atop Nigeria’s most critical democratic institution.
He called on legislators to do what he described as the right thing and ensure a fair and impartial chairman is appointed.
The JIBWIS leader’s remarks represent the most forceful rejection yet of Amupitan’s appointment from Nigeria’s Muslim establishment and signal that the controversy is far from dying down.
Despite the mounting pressure, the Tinubu administration has offered no public response to the growing demands for Amupitan’s removal, leaving the INEC chairman’s fate hanging in an increasingly charged political atmosphere.