The Muslim Rights Concern has demanded that President Bola Tinubu immediately sack the Chairman of the Independent National Electoral Commission, Prof. Josiah Amupitan, citing alleged anti-Muslim bias that could compromise the 2027 general elections.
The Islamic advocacy group made this call on Thursday, January 29, through a statement released by its Kano State chapter chairman, Malam Hassan Sani Indabawa.
MURIC argued that Amupitan’s continued leadership of INEC threatens the credibility of the upcoming polls and called for his removal, resignation or prosecution based on his previous activities.
The organisation’s grievance centres on a legal document Amupitan authored in 2020, which MURIC characterised as a hate-filled brief alleging Christian genocide in Nigeria submitted to the United States.
The group referenced the 80-page document titled ‘Legal Brief: Genocide in Nigeria: The Implications for the International Community’, which it said demonstrates Amupitan’s partisanship against Muslims.
“In 2020, Professor Joash Amupitan (SAN) published a 80-page Legal Brief titled, ‘Legal Brief: Genocide in Nigeria: The Implications for the International Community’.
“The document was commissioned by the International Committee on Nigeria (ICON) and the International Organisation on Peace-building and Social Justice (PSJ), and was later highlighted in the ‘Religious Freedom in the World 2025’ report,” the statement read.
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MURIC took issue with the brief’s framing of violence in Nigeria, claiming Amupitan portrayed attacks by Boko Haram and herder-farmer conflicts as part of an orchestrated campaign against Christians.
“Amupitan’s Legal Brief argued that attacks by Boko Haram and ‘Fulani herdsmen’ were not merely localised conflicts but formed a ‘coordinated anti-Christian campaign’.
“He clearly expressed that it was a ‘notorious fact’ that crimes against humanity, war crimes, and genocide were being perpetrated in Nigeria,” MURIC claimed.
The Muslim advocacy group insisted that allowing Amupitan to oversee the 2027 elections whilst holding such views would undermine public confidence in the electoral process.
“Our position, therefore, is that the demand for Amupitan’s immediate removal, resignation, or prosecution is to protect and safeguard the credibility of the 2027 general elections.”
The group concluded its statement with a direct call for presidential action against the INEC chairman.
“We therefore demand the immediate removal of Amupitan for his glaring partisanship and open despise and resentment against Nigerian Muslims,” MURIC said.