Nigeria’s Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) Chairman, Professor Joash Amupitan, was on Thursday confronted by angry Nigerians in London, United Kingdom, who accused him of compromising the country’s electoral process and demanded his resignation.
The protesters reportedly surrounded the vehicle conveying Amupitan outside Chatham House, where he had attended a discussion on Nigeria’s preparations for the 2027 general elections.
Videos of the incident circulating on social media showed demonstrators gathering around his vehicle, shouting accusations and displaying their displeasure with his leadership of the electoral commission.
Some of the protesters reportedly described INEC as a criminal organisation and accused Amupitan of working in favour of President Bola Tinubu and the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC).
They also demanded that the INEC chairman step down, insisting that he had failed to address concerns surrounding the credibility of the preliminary voters’ register.
The protest was reportedly triggered by allegations of irregularities in the preliminary voters’ register released ahead of the 2027 elections.
The demonstrators raised concerns over alleged duplicate registrations, suspicious voter photographs, suspected artificial intelligence-generated images and questionable entries in the register.
They accused the commission of failing to provide satisfactory explanations for the alleged irregularities and argued that the development could undermine the credibility of the 2027 elections.
INEC had earlier acknowledged problems with the registration exercise.
Amupitan disclosed that the commission had removed 1,608,660 invalid registrations and identified 54 officials across 10 states for disciplinary action over alleged irregularities.
The confrontation happened while Amupitan was in London to participate in a Chatham House discussion organised in collaboration with the Kimpact Development Initiative.
During the engagement, the INEC chairman defended the commission’s preparations for the 2027 elections and outlined measures being introduced to prevent a repeat of the controversies that trailed the 2023 presidential election.
He also pledged not to accept any political or diplomatic appointment after leaving office, saying he wanted to demonstrate his commitment to electoral neutrality.
However, the London protest highlighted the growing distrust among some Nigerians over INEC’s ability to conduct credible elections in 2027.
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