The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) says the X (formerly Twitter) account attributed to its Chairman, Prof. Joash Amupitan, is a clear case of impersonation.
In the statement signed by Chief Press Secretary to the INEC Chairman, Adedayo Oketola, on Monday, the commission said all alleged posts, replies or statements linked to Amupitan are fraudulent, following a detailed forensic investigation that exonerated him.
He said the forensic report has been referred to law enforcement agencies for necessary action.
Oketola explained that both internal and forensic inquiries confirmed that the INEC Chairman has no presence on social media, despite the existence of an account bearing a similar name.
He said forensic investigations have established that a post on an X account allegedly linked to Prof. Amupitan was published 13 minutes before the message it was purported to be responding to.
He added that the pattern of activity associated with the account was consistent with cyberfraud tactics.
According to INEC, one of the most damning findings was a timestamp anomaly showing that the alleged reply credited to Amupitan was posted 13 minutes before the original tweet it purportedly responded to.
Further checks on the X platform revealed no trace of the alleged reply, while exhaustive searches returned zero results linking the content to any account operated by Amupitan.
The Commission added that attempts to connect the disputed account to Amupitan’s verified email address through X’s password recovery system failed, while similar efforts using his phone number yielded no link.
According to INEC, findings from investigation revealed that the “X account was created in September 2022. However, there is no linkage between the X (Twitter) account and Prof. Amupitan’s yahoo or Unijos emails.”
“Timestamp analysis shows the alleged 2026 reply, ‘Victory is sure’, was posted 13 minutes before the original post by @dayoisreal. This is physically impossible on any digital platform.
“Wayback Machine searches show zero records of @joashamupitan on X (Twitter) before April 2026. The alleged reply @joashamupitan to @dayoisreal’s post is absent from all live and archived threads.
“On April 10, 2026, the same day the screenshots went viral, @joashamupitan was renamed to @sundayvibe00, set to private, and labelled ‘Parody Account’. This is consistent with deliberate impersonation and damage-control.”
The statatement urged media organisations and the public to verify social media claims through official channels before amplifying them, stressing that virality does not equate to authenticity.
“Accuracy must take precedence over speed, particularly where public trust and institutional credibility are at stake,” INEC said.
The Commission disclosed that the forensic report has been forwarded to law enforcement agencies to identify and prosecute those responsible under the Cybercrimes (Prohibition, Prevention, etc.) Act.
“The independent forensic report has been referred to the law enforcement agencies for necessary action. The law enforcement agencies should move swiftly to trace the origin of the fabricated screenshots, identify the individuals responsible for creating and operating the @joashamupitan account, and prosecute them under Nigeria’s Cybercrimes (Prohibition, Prevention, etc.) Act.
“The law criminalises identity theft, digital forgery, and the dissemination of manipulated electronic content. Social media platforms, including X, Meta, and Instagram, must also adopt fast-track impersonation response protocols for verified electoral bodies and senior public officials, whose identities can be exploited to distort democratic processes”, it said.
