Protesters surrounded a vehicle carrying the chairman of Nigeria’s Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), Prof. Joash Ojo Amupitan, outside Chatham House in London on Thursday, 12 November, shouting accusations at him and the commission.
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Amupitan was in London to speak at a panel hosted by Chatham House and the Kimpact Development Initiative on Nigeria’s preparations for the 2027 general elections.
Nigerian diaspora activists mobilised on social media and gathered outside the venue, where demonstrators called INEC a “criminal organisation” and accused Amupitan of favouring President Bola Tinubu and the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC). They demanded his resignation over alleged electoral irregularities, citing duplicate entries and AI-generated images in the preliminary voter register, as well as alleged fake polling units.
Before Amupitan’s trip, INEC said it had removed 1.6 million invalid records from the register, including entries with manipulated AI images. The commission also said it had flagged 54 officials across 10 states.
During the panel, Amupitan pledged to turn down any political or diplomatic appointment after his tenure at INEC, citing the need to demonstrate his impartiality.
He also said INEC was introducing technical safeguards designed to prevent inaccurate results from being uploaded to the INEC Result Viewing Portal (IReV) during the 2027 elections.
