Protesters block Amupitan’s vehicle in London, demand resignation
Protesters block Amupitan’s vehicle in London, demand resignation
The Chairman of the Independent National Electoral Commission, Prof. Joash Amupitan, was on Thursday heckled by Nigerian protesters in London, who hurled insults at him over allegations of irregularities in the preliminary voters’ register ahead of the 2027 general elections.
The protesters surrounded a vehicle conveying Amupitan outside Chatham House in London, where he was scheduled to speak at a panel discussion on Nigeria’s preparations for the 2027 elections.
The demonstrators, believed to be Nigerians in Diaspora, accused the electoral commission of compromising its impartiality and favouring President Bola Tinubu and the ruling All Progressives Congress.
They also called for Amupitan’s resignation, describing INEC as a “criminal organisation” and citing alleged duplicate voter registrations, artificial intelligence-generated photographs and questionable polling units in the preliminary voters’ register.
The protest came amid growing public criticism of INEC following the circulation of images and records purportedly showing suspicious entries in the voters’ register, including photographs suspected to have been generated or manipulated using artificial intelligence.
The controversy intensified after the commission acknowledged irregularities in the registration process and announced investigations into the affected records.
On November 9, Amupitan disclosed that INEC had removed 1,608,660 invalid voter registrations following a review of the 2025/2026 Continuous Voter Registration exercise.
The commission also announced that 873 records belonging to verified deceased persons had been removed, bringing the total number of deleted records to 1,609,553.
Amupitan further disclosed that 54 persons across 10 states had been identified as allegedly complicit in registration irregularities and would face disciplinary action, including possible prosecution.
He said the irregularities included suspected multiple registrations, substituted photographs and breaches of established registration procedures.
INEC, however, maintained that some of the questionable entries circulating on social media were linked to previous registration exercises dating back to 2011, rather than solely to the latest exercise.
The London protest also brought renewed attention to questions about the independence of the electoral commission, particularly following the decision of Amupitan’s predecessor, Prof. Mahmood Yakubu, to accept a diplomatic appointment after leaving office.
Yakubu was among 32 ambassadorial nominees forwarded to the Senate by Tinubu in November 2025 and was subsequently designated as Nigeria’s non-career ambassador to Qatar.
Addressing concerns about the possibility of receiving a political or diplomatic appointment after his tenure, Amupitan pledged not to accept such an offer, saying it could undermine public confidence in his neutrality.
“I’m not going to accept any appointment from anybody because coming to serve here is based on trust,” he said during the Chatham House discussion.
He maintained that his responsibility as INEC chairman required him to demonstrate impartiality in the discharge of his duties.
Amupitan also said the commission was introducing additional technical safeguards to prevent inaccurate election results from being uploaded to its Result Viewing Portal during the 2027 elections.
The measures, he said, were part of efforts to strengthen the credibility of the electoral process and address concerns surrounding electronic transmission and the publication of polling unit results.
The protest came as political stakeholders and civil society groups continued to demand greater transparency and accountability from INEC ahead of the 2027 general elections.
