The African Democratic Congress (ADC) on Saturday, April 11, threatened to escalate its civil disobedience action until the Chairman of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), Professor Joash Amupitan, leaves office.
National Publicity Secretary of the party, Bolaji Abdullahi, said this in a post on his X handle on Saturday, as he added that the revelation linking a pro-Bola Ahmed Tinubu tweet of 2023 to the chairman of INEC is not just merely disturbing, but also a grave affront to the integrity of the country’s electoral system.
Amupitan has in recent times come under heavy criticisms, mostly from the opposition parties over alleged old social media posts suggesting bias in favour of the All Progressives Congress (APC).
Speaking on the development, Abdullahi said more troubling was his alleged desperate attempt to tamper with digital records and erase evidence of his previous partisanship.
He insisted that a man who manipulates records to save himself cannot be trusted to safeguard the mandate of millions.
Part of his statement reads: “In a democracy, the umpire must be above suspicion. He must not only be independent, he must be seen, beyond any reasonable doubt, to be independent.
“That is the minimum standard required of anyone entrusted with the sacred duty of conducting free and fair elections.
“This is not a trivial matter. It is a calculated assault on truth and accountability.
“Over the past few days, it has been repeatedly revealed that Professor Amupitan, by his conduct, his utterances, and now by incontrovertible digital evidence, has fallen far below the standard expected of an electoral umpire.
“The referee cannot be running around in the shirt of one of the teams he’s supposed to officiate in a match.
“This is why Professor Amupitan must resign now. Anything less is an insult to the Nigerian people and a dangerous precedent for our democracy.
“We will also renew and escalate our civil disobedience action until the INEC Chairman leaves office.”
By Desire Emmanuel
