Nigerians In London Block INEC Chairman’s Vehicle, Demand His Removal

The Chairman of the Independent National Electoral Commission, Prof. Joash Amupitan, was confronted by protesters in London on Thursday over alleged irregularities in the preliminary voters’ register ahead of the 2027 general elections.

The protesters surrounded the vehicle conveying Amupitan outside Chatham House, where he was scheduled to speak at a panel discussion on Nigeria’s preparations for the 2027 elections.

The demonstrators, believed to be Nigerians living abroad, shouted at the INEC chairman, accusing the commission of compromising its neutrality in favour of President Bola Tinubu and the ruling All Progressives Congress.

They demanded Amupitan’s resignation and described INEC as a “criminal organisation”, citing alleged duplicate voter registrations, questionable polling units and photographs suspected to have been generated using artificial intelligence.

The protest came amid growing public criticism of INEC following the circulation of images and records purportedly showing suspicious entries in the preliminary voters’ register.

The commission had acknowledged irregularities in the registration process and announced an investigation into the affected records.

‘Trust Me, I Won’t Fail You’

Speaking earlier at the event, Amupitan urged Nigerians to trust him to deliver free, fair, credible and inclusive elections in 2027, assuring them that he would not disappoint them.

He admitted that the commission was yet to overcome the trust deficit created by the technical glitches recorded during the 2023 general election.

The INEC chairman also promised that inaccurate polling unit results would not be uploaded to the commission’s Result Viewing Portal, IReV, during the 2027 elections.

“Why must Nigerians trust me? Nigerians must trust me because, number one, I have conducted off-cycle elections—and observers agree that the recent election in Osun State marked a clear improvement,” he said.

Amupitan cited the Anambra and Osun governorship elections, the Federal Capital Territory Area Council polls, the Ekiti governorship election and 16 legislative by-elections as examples of elections conducted under his leadership.

He recalled that the 2021 Anambra governorship election took approximately five days to conclude, while the results of the recent Anambra and Osun governorship elections were declared the day after voting.

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