INEC Dismisses Fake Claims of Chairman Amupitan’s Resignation

The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) has firmly rejected a circulating social media report alleging that its Chairman, Prof. Joash Amupitan, is about to step down.In a statement posted on its official X account on Saturday, the commission called the claim which appeared alongside an image “FALSE, FABRICATED AND MISLEADING.” 

It advised the public to ignore the report, stop sharing unverified information, and rely only on INEC’s official channels for accurate updates.The denial comes as Amupitan faces increased public scrutiny over issues with the preliminary voters’ register ahead of the 2027 general elections. On November 9, he announced that INEC had deleted 1,608,660 invalid entries after reviewing the 2025 and 2026 Continuous Voter Registration exercises. 

He also revealed that 54 individuals across 10 states had been flagged for alleged registration irregularities and could face disciplinary measures or prosecution. The commission had received complaints about possible multiple registrations, suspicious photographs, and other anomalies.The controversy followed Amupitan to London earlier this week. 

On Thursday, protesters confronted his vehicle outside Chatham House, calling for his resignation over the voters’ register problems. During the Chatham House discussion on Nigeria’s 2027 election preparations, Amupitan acknowledged that controversies from the 2023 polls had badly eroded public trust in INEC. 

He asked Nigerians to give his leadership a chance, noting that the commission had put new measures in place to fix earlier shortcomings.He also outlined plans for a nationwide mock accreditation and voting exercise on November 28 to test upgrades to the Bimodal Voter Accreditation System and the electronic transmission of results. 

Technical safeguards have been added to stop inaccurate polling-unit results or over-voting figures from being uploaded to the Result Viewing Portal.The 2027 presidential and National Assembly elections are set for January 16, with the governorship and State Houses of Assembly polls scheduled for February 6.