The Chairman of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), Prof. Joash Amupitan, has denied operating an X account allegedly used to express support for President Bola Tinubu and the All Progressives Congress during the 2023 general election.
Amupitan disclosed that the controversy had been reported to the Department of State Services (DSS) and the office of the Inspector-General of Police, adding that an independent report had also been obtained.
He spoke on Thursday during a dialogue at Chatham House in London, organised in partnership with the Kimpact Development Initiative, under the theme, “Nigeria’s 2027 Elections: Democratic Trajectory and Regional Stability Beyond the Ballot.”
Responding to a question about whether an independent investigation had established that he was not behind the account, the INEC chairman said the matter had been reported to security agencies.
“We have an independent report and the matter was also reported to the DSS as well as to the IG,” he said.
He maintained that he had never operated an X account, explaining that his attempts to contact the social media platform over the allegation were unsuccessful because he was not a user.
“I never had an X account. I tried to get in touch with X, but there’s no way if you don’t have an account,” he stated.
Amupitan added that some civil society organisations had also expressed interest in investigating the allegation.
“I have my Yahoo mail. I check Yahoo mail. It was never my account. And that is the truth,” he said.
The INEC chairman also linked the emergence of the controversy to the period surrounding a court ruling involving the African Democratic Congress (ADC) and the interpretation of the status quo ante bellum order.
“Remember the background. That issue came up when the court ruled that ADC had an issue, and the concept of status quo ante bellum. I don’t want to go back into it. But at the same time, it came about that time,” he said.
He suggested that the timing of the allegation was part of an attempt to discredit him and undermine confidence in the electoral commission.
“The only way that people could bring down an institution was to say, ‘Oh, this person,’” he added.
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Amupitan also dismissed other allegations previously made against him, including claims that he was a member of President Tinubu’s legal team and had made false claims about his educational background.
According to him, investigations by the DSS and police found the allegations to be unfounded.
“There were several accusations before then. For instance, that I was a member of the legal team of the President, that I said I went to school, but that is not true. They were investigated and discovered not to be true. So there were also investigations from DSS, from the police. And those things were not true,” he said.
He expressed confidence in INEC’s preparations for the 2027 general elections, assuring Nigerians that the commission was working towards delivering an exercise the country would be proud of.
The controversy followed allegations that an X account bearing the handle @joashamupitan belonged to the electoral chief and had expressed support for the APC during the 2023 general election.
The account reportedly responded to a post by former APC National Youth Leader, Dayo Israel, celebrating the party’s victory in a predominantly Igbo community in Lagos, with the words, “Victory is sure.”
The allegation raised questions about Amupitan’s impartiality as chairman of the commission responsible for conducting Nigeria’s elections.
However, INEC had dismissed the claims as fabricated and intended to undermine the credibility of its chairman and the commission.
In a statement issued on April 10, 2026, Amupitan’s Chief Press Secretary and Media Adviser, Adedayo Oketola, alleged that fraudulent accounts had been created in the chairman’s name to mislead and defraud members of the public.
The commission said it was working with security agencies and cyber-intelligence units to identify those responsible for the suspected impersonation.
Meanwhile, an investigation by the International Centre for Investigative Reporting, republished by FactCheckHub, reportedly identified similarities between partially concealed email and phone details displayed by X during account recovery and contact information associated with Amupitan.
However, the report noted that conclusively establishing who operated the account would require access to records held by X, including login history, IP addresses and device information, which were not publicly available.
INEC’s Director of Information and Communication Technology, Lawrence Bayode, had also said the commission was yet to obtain verified forensic evidence linking Amupitan to the account and was considering an independent forensic examination.