A digital footprint has exposed Prof. Joash Amupitan, current chairman of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) and his bias towards President Bola Ahmed Tinubu.

A past tweet from an X handle reportedly owned by the embattled INEC Chairman demonstrates that his denials may be mere save face strategy, this is indications emerged that the digital footprints that connect the dots of the issue are actually valid

What has happened?

Professor Joash Amupitan has been making the headlines in recent times after the commission he heads INEC, proceeded to derecognize the leadership of David Mark of the African Democratic Congress (ADC). The commission’s excuse was that the decision was prompted by a court order obtained by another faction of the party.

INEC under its new leadership claimed that the best procedure under the law was to suspend both factions and ask them to return to the status quo as par the court injunction.

This move by INEC was met with outrage by members and leaders of the David Mark-led political party which wasted no time accusing INEC under the leadership of Prof Joash Amupitan of partisan politics, stressing that the commission is dancing to the tune played by President Tinubu and the APC. The group led protests to the INEC headquarters in Abuja and demanded the resignation of Joash Amupitan.

Also, the proposed decision of Joash Amupitan, though now postponed, to revalidate permanent voter cards, which carried the risk of disenfranchising millions, irked Nigerians.

Two days later, a netizen on X dug out a response attributed to Joash Amupitan. The tweet, written as ‘Victory is sure’ was a response to a tweet by popular APC Chieftain Dayo Israel who boasted that he had flipped his “nearby,” “Igbo-dominated” polling unit from the opposition to the APC.

Other tweets of his were dug out. On March 17, 2023, a day earlier, one Okodoro Oro debunked a rumour that supporters of Peter Obi had used an outdated photo of a bleeding man to disparage legislator Desmond Elliot of Lagos State.

“They are evil in the 24th [sic] century,” was Amupitan’s reply.

A Tinubu supporter account commemorated Tinubu’s arrival at the Abuja airport in April of 2025. “Asiwaju” was Amupitan’s one-word response to the tweet.

As soon as all of these tweets went viral, a none-yet-to-be-identified handler of the X account named @joashamupitan quickly deactivated the account and renamed it to @Sundayvibe002.

In another swift response, the commission, through its media team, debunked the possession of the account by its chairman, stressing that it was all a way to engineer political and personal sentiments to the call of the INEC Chairman ahead of the 2027 general elections.

What The digital footprints Revealed About Joash Amupitan

Findings by ENigeria Newspaper have revealed that Joash Amupitan may have lied about not owning an X account.

First indication shows that all personal details on the X account of the INEC Chairman are all valid. These details include his name, email addresses (amupitan@unijos.edu.ng, amupitanj@yahoo.com) and phone number (08035074099).

Further findings into past publications of Joash Amupitan, particularly one on Christian Genocide a few years ago while he was a lecturer and Dean of the Faculty of Law, University of Jos show that these exact details are same as the ones found one the X account.

In addition, attempting to log into both email accounts automatically prompted the system to display the phone number 08035074099 for the purpose of generating a verification code.

The same number also showed that while a sample transaction was attempted on the number, it is in fact registered on the Opay app as Joash Ojo Amupitan, the full name of the INEC Chairman. The same number is also registered with his name on his Truecaller database.

Ultimately, it is almost impossible that a pseudo or parody account could have had access to personal information belonging to the INEC Chairman.

The speed at which the handler of the X account changed the username, locked the account and deleted old tweets stirred more suspicion.

In defiance, the same handler quickly created another account, tweeted an AI-generated message to debunk an account. It wrote, "…encourage everyone to verify information before drawing conclusions. Let’s keep conversation respectful, factual, and free from unnecessary accusations."

He, however, forgot to delete the usual, "…if you want, I can make it more aggressive, more diplomatic, or shorter for quick posting," generated by Chatbot.

What next for Joash Amupitan?

It remains to be seen what is next for the INEC Chairman. While Nigerians are calling for his immediate resignation, it is likely that the ADC would intensify demand for his resignation by hitting the streets once again on Monday, as ADC chieftain Dino Melaye suggested.

One thing, however, is certain, the actions of Joash Amupitan have shown that it would be totally undemocratic to trust partisan politicians to deliver credible elections come 2027 and this calls for concern. (ENigeria)

Update news