The Chairman of the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, Prof. Joash Amupitan, came under intense pressure on Thursday when Nigerian protesters in London surrounded and blocked a vehicle conveying him, demanding his resignation over allegations of irregularities in the voters’ register ahead of the 2027 general elections.
The protesters, believed to be Nigerians living in the Diaspora, accosted Amupitan outside Chatham House in London, where he was scheduled to speak at a panel discussion on Nigeria’s preparations for the 2027 elections. They reportedly hurled insults at him and accused the electoral umpire of compromising its independence and favouring President Bola Tinubu and the ruling All Progressives Congress, APC.
The demonstrators, who described INEC as a “criminal organisation”, demanded Amupitan’s immediate resignation, alleging that the commission could no longer be trusted to conduct a credible and impartial election in 2027.
Their protest was largely driven by controversy surrounding the preliminary voters’ register released by INEC, which reportedly contained suspicious entries, including alleged duplicate registrations, photographs suspected to have been generated or manipulated using artificial intelligence and questionable polling units.
The development has heightened public concerns about the credibility of the electoral process, with critics questioning how such irregularities could have entered the register of an institution constitutionally mandated to conduct free, fair and credible elections.
The controversy intensified after INEC acknowledged irregularities in the registration process and announced an investigation into the affected records.
On November 9, Amupitan disclosed that the commission had removed 1,608,660 invalid voter registrations following a review of the 2025/2026 Continuous Voter Registration exercise.
INEC also announced the removal of 873 records belonging to verified deceased persons, bringing the total number of deleted records to 1,609,553.
The INEC chairman further disclosed that 54 persons across 10 states had been identified as allegedly involved in registration irregularities and would face disciplinary action, including possible prosecution.
According to him, the infractions included suspected multiple registrations, substituted photographs and violations of established registration procedures.
INEC, however, maintained that some of the questionable entries circulating on social media were connected to previous registration exercises dating back to 2011 and were not necessarily products of the latest registration exercise.
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