The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) has said a forensic cybersecurity investigation has established that its Chairman, Joash Ojo Amupitan, does not operate any account on X (formerly Twitter), describing viral posts attributed to him as fabricated.
INEC disclosed this in a statement issued in Abuja by the Chairman’s Chief Press Secretary and Media Adviser, Adedayo Oketola, following weeks of circulating screenshots claiming Amupitan made a partisan comment on the platform.
According to the commission, the controversy began on April 10, 2026, when posts surfaced online alleging that the INEC boss operated an X account under the handle @joashamupitan and had replied “Victory is sure” to another user.
The screenshots quickly gained traction across social media, accompanied by claims linking the account to the chairman through emails, phone numbers and financial data.
However, INEC said it commissioned an independent forensic cybersecurity expert who conducted a detailed investigation using platform data, internet archive records, open-source intelligence tools and cross-platform analysis.
The commission said the findings were conclusive.
“The forensic evidence is comprehensive, multi-sourced and unambiguous. The posts attributed to Prof. Amupitan are fabricated. The account is a clear case of impersonation, and the activity points to a coordinated disinformation campaign,” the statement said.
INEC highlighted what it described as a critical flaw in the viral claim—a timestamp inconsistency.
According to the commission, the alleged reply credited to the chairman was shown as posted at 4:05 p.m., while the original post it responded to was verified to have been published at 4:18 p.m., making it technically impossible.
“No platform can receive a reply before the original post is published,” the statement noted, adding that the discrepancy pointed to digital manipulation.
Further checks, INEC said, showed no trace of the account on internet archive records before April 10, while live verification on the X platform did not reveal the alleged post in the original thread or in search results.
The commission also said that on the same day the screenshots circulated, the account in question was renamed, set to private and labelled a parody account—moves it described as attempts to erase a digital trail.
INEC dismissed claims linking the account to Amupitan through bank verification and financial data as unfounded, noting that such information does not establish ownership of a social media account.
Investigators also uncovered multiple fake social media accounts bearing the chairman’s name across different platforms, some created years before his appointment in October 2025.
INEC said the matter has been referred to security agencies for further action, urging the identification and prosecution of those behind what it described as a coordinated impersonation and disinformation effort.