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The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) has dismissed a 2023 social media post allegedly linked to the commission’s chairman, Joash Amupitan and refused to disclose the identity of the forensic expert investigating the post.
In the social media post, an X account with the name, Prof. Joash Ojo Amupitan, replied to a tweet from the national youth leader of the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC), Dayo Israel, where he (Israel) said he “delivered” his polling unit and that the APC won 7 out of 10 polling units in a nearly Igbo dominated community where the APC has never won.
The account allegedly linked to Amupitan replied with “victory is sure”. When the post resurfaced, the INEC chairman was accused of partisanship and asked to resign.
In an interview with Channels TV on Tuesday, INEC’s ICT Director, Lawrence Bayode, claimed the post from 2023 was used to discredit Amupitan and the electoral umpire.
“The agenda is just to discredit Professor Joshua Amupitan. That’s just the agenda. Just to discredit him so that they can discredit the work of the commission,” said Bode.
He also claimed that a forensic investigation of the post revealed it was not from 2027, as publicly claimed.
“That’s what we are saying. That’s not what the forensic report is reporting,” he added.
The commission, however, has failed to disclose the identity of the forensic cybersecurity expert involved in investigating the pro-APC X account allegedly linked to the INEC Chairman. While justifying this, he said the matter is being handled by the National Cybercrime Centre, the police unit responsible for prosecuting cybercrime-related matters.
“I’m sure the cybercrime centre, which is under the police force, will do its own investigation,” said Bode.
