Moment Protesters Blocked INEC Chairman's Vehicle Trends
- Nigerian diaspora protesters surrounded a vehicle carrying INEC Chairman Prof. Joash Amupitan outside Chatham House in London
- Demonstrators accused INEC of bias towards President Tinubu and the APC, calling for Amupitan's resignation over register irregularities
- The protest followed INEC's removal of over 1.6 million invalid voter registrations from the 2025/2026 Continuous Voter Registration exercise
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Prof. Joash Amupitan, Chairman of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), was confronted by angry Nigerian protesters in London on Thursday, who surrounded his vehicle outside Chatham House and hurled insults at him over concerns about the integrity of the preliminary voters' register ahead of the 2027 general elections.
Amupitan had arrived at Chatham House to participate in a panel discussion on Nigeria's electoral preparations when the demonstrators, believed to be members of the Nigerian diaspora, intercepted his convoy and voiced their grievances publicly.
Protesters accuse INEC of bias
The crowd accused the electoral body of abandoning its neutrality and tilting in favour of President Bola Tinubu and the ruling All Progressives Congress. They demanded Amupitan's resignation and labelled INEC a "criminal organisation," citing specific concerns including duplicate voter registrations, photographs suspected to have been generated using artificial intelligence, and questionable polling units listed in the preliminary register.
The protest reflects mounting public frustration over suspicious entries that have been circulating on social media, which critics say point to deliberate manipulation of the voter registration process.
INEC removed over 1.6m records
The controversy gained further momentum after INEC itself acknowledged problems within the registration process. On November 9, Amupitan disclosed that the commission had deleted 1,608,660 invalid entries following a review of the 2025/2026 Continuous Voter Registration exercise. An additional 873 records tied to confirmed deceased persons were also removed, bringing the total number of deleted entries to 1,609,553.
Amupitan said 54 individuals across 10 states had been identified as allegedly involved in the irregularities and would face disciplinary action and possible prosecution. The violations included suspected multiple registrations, substituted photographs, and breaches of standard registration procedures.
INEC maintained that some of the questionable records circulating online were linked to earlier registration exercises dating back to 2011, rather than exclusively to the most recent exercise.
Questions over INEC's independence
The London protest also reignited debate about whether INEC can operate free from political influence, particularly in light of the trajectory of Amupitan's predecessor. Prof. Mahmood Yakubu, who led INEC before Amupitan, was included among 32 ambassadorial nominees forwarded to the Senate by President Tinubu in November 2025 and was subsequently designated as Nigeria's non-career ambassador to Qatar.
Responding to concerns that he too might accept a government appointment after leaving office, Amupitan pledged publicly that he would not, saying such a move would damage public trust in his impartiality as INEC chairman.
Source: Legit.ng
