A group, Action for Democracy and Good Governance has called on the security agencies to apprehend those it described as distractors behind the ‘fake’ X account of the Chairman of Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), Prof. Joash Amupitan.
Amupitan has been in the eyes of the storm following the decision of the commission to unrecognise the leadership of the African Democratic Congress (ADC) led by Senator David Mark.
However, his baptism of fire became intense after an alleged partisan tweet on X was dug up, which further led to the growing call for his resignation ahead of the 2027 general election.
The INEC chairman has also denied operating any X account.
But addressing a press conference on Wednesday in Abuja, the President of the group, Peter Bassey after the investigation conducted by the group, it was revealed that the alleged X account does not belong to him.
He stressed that since assuming office on October 23, 2025, Amupitan has anchored the Commission’s work on the non-negotiable principles of electoral credibility, openness, and strict adherence to the Constitution.
Bassey added: “We have taken our time, as a body involved in Accountability and Good Governance crusade for decades, to follow up with previous and current happenings, such as the divisive posts, chants, moves, steps and call for the INEC chairman’s removal/resignation over a fake X handle account that does not belong to him.
“It was our discovery that, the X handle, ‘@joashamupitan’, purportedly created with a website http://amupitanjyahoo.com as revealed by GROK, without an ‘@’ to qualify it as an email address capable of being used to create an X account is a deliberate distortion of fact.
“The deliberate picking, pegging and circulation of his genuine Yahoo Email Address Account Password Reset, with all his genuine details from his Curriculum Vitae, under the pretext that it belonged to an X Account Creation or Opening is reprimandable”
Bassey pointed out that the deliberate extrapolation sharing of unconnected details from his Curriculum Vitae, just to fill in the hidden details to further spread false information should be treated as a national risk.
He stated: “It was clear from our forensic investigators as cursory described above, before coming out to lend our full support to the commission under Prof. Amupitan’s watch, as we encourage all well-meaning Nigerians to do is that, the Chairman never, as at the time of giving this press release, created, owned or operated any account in any of his name or however coined under the X-Space.
“We, therefore, call on the security agencies, to always hasten efforts, to apprehend any of these distractors in good time whenever such is noticed before it escalates, as we all know what the Cybercrimes Act talks about misinformation, disinformation, distortion and presentation of information falsely, over the internet, to make it appear to be real.”
Bassey stressed that once this is done in a timely manner, a lot of democratic distractors would learn and think twice before indulging in or encouraging unverifiable creation, fabrication of acts or omissions, considered inimical under the law and morality that could plunge the fragile country into a total collapse.
Moreso, the group noted that the outburst of a former minister, alleging that Amupitan does not have ‘any integrity’ be totally disregarded, describing him as a lone voice in the wilderness, begging for recognition or attention.