Dare Babalola
Media scholar Farooq Kperogi has weighed in on the controversy surrounding alleged partisan ties of the Chairman of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), Professor Joash Amupitan.
He outlined what he believes should be the most appropriate course of action amid growing public scrutiny.
In a Facebook post on Monday, Kperogi argued that the situation has escalated beyond mere speculation, with many Nigerians now convinced that a pro-All Progressives Congress (APC) X account—initially identified as @joashamupitan and later changed to @Sundayvibe00—belongs to the INEC chairman.
He recounted how Nigerians undertook multiple verification steps to establish a link between the account and Amupitan. According to him, “in trying to determine if the X handle… belongs to INEC chairman Professor Joash Amupitan, some Nigerians attempted to log in by using the ‘forgot password’ route,” adding that the recovery details reportedly matched the email and phone number listed in the chairman’s publicly available CV.
Kperogi further noted that attempts to validate the identity extended to financial platforms. “They tested the phone number through Opay and GTBank transfers. The name that appeared was ‘Joash Ojo Amupitan.’ It can’t get more unimpeachably factual than that. That is fool-proof institutional data tied to BVN-linked banking records,” he said.
He added that the phone number was also checked on Truecaller, where it reportedly appeared as “Joash Ojo Amupitan (Prof),” reinforcing suspicions. “Truecaller is crowd-sourced, but when it aligns with a CV and bank-verified name, the convergence is hard to dismiss,” Kperogi stated.
As outrage grew, Nigerians reportedly began contacting the number and email address linked to the account, urging the INEC chairman to step down. “People began calling and texting the number until it was switched off,” he wrote, noting that the email address associated with the account “has reportedly now been disabled.”
Kperogi also highlighted an unusual form of protest adopted by some citizens. “They started sending ₦1 or ₦10 transfers to his Opay and GTB accounts, using the remarks field to tell him to resign,” he said, describing the development as a “strange twist” where “public outrage is padding his bank balance.”
Despite the mounting controversy, Kperogi expressed doubt that resignation would be forthcoming, citing Nigeria’s political culture. However, he emphasized that the INEC chairman still has an opportunity to salvage public trust through honesty.
“At this point, frankly, denying ownership of the account is becoming unbearably embarrassing and eroding the faintest vestige of credibility,” he said.
He advised that the most reasonable step would be transparency. “He should acknowledge his past support for Tinubu as a private citizen and state that he has since shed partisan loyalties as INEC chairman,” Kperogi wrote.
While admitting such a declaration may not fully convince critics, Kperogi maintained that “it is infinitely better than this current futile attempt to hide behind his finger hoping people can’t see him in plain sight.”
