*Odinkalu Tells Him To Resign
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What was meant to be a defence of embattled INEC Chairman Professor Joash Amupitan SAN by Senate President Godswill Akpabio has instead become the most damaging development yet in the social media controversy with Nigerians across the political spectrum interpreting Akpabio’s intervention as an effective confirmation that the controversial X account does indeed belong to Amupitan, directly contradicting INEC’s earlier categorical denial that the chairman ever operated any personal account on the platform.
The backlash has been swift, withering, and near-universal, with Nigerians pointing out that Akpabio’s defence shifted the narrative from “it’s not his account” INEC’s official position to “he didn’t mention any specific party” a fundamentally different argument that implicitly acknowledges ownership of the account and the “Victory is sure” post that has sparked the crisis.
Meanwhile, former Chairman of the National Human Rights Commission, Professor Chidi Anselm Odinkalu, has directly called on Amupitan to resign, telling the INEC chairman he “knows what to do” and warning that continuing to double down on “unintelligent falsehood” risks destroying his professional standing.
Senate President Akpabio rose to defend Amupitan over the allegations of political bias, reportedly arguing that even if the INEC chairman made the “Victory is sure” comment, it did not specifically mention any political party and could not therefore be interpreted as partisan.
This defence, however, created an immediate and devastating logical problem: INEC’s official position, maintained through multiple statements by the commission and its ICT Director Lawrence Bayode, was that the chairman does not operate any personal X account, has never engaged in partisan commentary, and that the account was operated by cybercriminals.
By defending the content of the post rather than denying its authorship, Akpabio effectively acknowledged what INEC had been denying that the account belongs to Amupitan and that the post was genuine.
Nigerians immediately seized on the contradiction.
“From ‘not his account’ to ‘he didn’t mention party.’ These people have no shame at all. Akpabio rising to defend INEC chairman shows how rigged the system is,” one user wrote on X.
“So according to Akpabio, he is defending Amupitan like this. These people are child-adults with kindergartenish reasoning. Well, they’d keep disgracing themselves to defend fraud,” another stated.
“In one breath you say it’s not his account. In another breath you are saying what he said isn’t for any party but broad speak. Won’t you stay one place so we could diagnose if you are foolish or plain stupid. Because I don’t want to believe you can possibly be both,” a particularly sharp-tongued critic wrote.
The most common reaction across social media was a simple, devastating observation: if Akpabio is defending what was said rather than denying who said it, then the account must belong to Amupitan.
“So, he said it. But INEC is denying it. INEC chairman, the game is up! You are caught already! Resign now!” one user wrote, adding the hashtags #AmupitanMustGo, #AmupitanMustResign, and #AmupitanOut.
“So is he admitting that the account indeed belongs to the INEC chairman?” another asked.
“So the account belongs to the INEC chairman but he lied,” another stated bluntly.
“Oh, they’ve agreed he owned the account? We are getting there,” a user wrote with evident satisfaction.
“Finally, they’ve admitted that he has an X account, and the comment was not fabricated but was actually made by him. That being said, whose victory was he talking about? It’s disgusting when elders lie without shame just to cover up their mess. What are they teaching their grandchildren?” another user stated.
Multiple Nigerians questioned why the Senate President who presides over the legislative body that confirmed Amupitan’s appointment would publicly defend the INEC chairman over allegations of partisanship, noting that such a defence raises its own questions about the independence of the electoral process.
“And why is Akpabio, the Senate President, defending the INEC Chairman over being partisan? Does Akpabio not want free and fair elections too?” one user asked.
“Nigeria is finished. The Executive arm and the Legislative arm of the Nigerian government are defending the embattled chairman of INEC, remaining the Judiciary arm of the government. Nigeria is cooked,” another observed, highlighting what they described as a convergence of the executive and legislature in protecting the electoral umpire from scrutiny.
“This really speaks volumes about the intellectual capacity of those who lead and make laws for us. Can a lawmaker in the UK or US maintain the same position on a matter like this? Nigeria is in dire need,” another user stated.
Professor Chidi Odinkalu, who has been one of the most prominent voices in the controversy, escalated his criticism by directly calling on Amupitan to resign.
In a statement posted on his verified X handle, Odinkalu criticised what he described as “obfuscation” surrounding the controversy, insisting that the senior advocate is aware of the appropriate course of action.
“My dear brother can save himself all this. He knows what to do. All this obfuscation is silly,” Odinkalu wrote.
The former NHRC chairman went further, warning that Amupitan’s continued association with what he termed “unintelligent falsehood” risks diminishing his standing in the legal profession a particularly pointed observation given that Amupitan holds the twin distinctions of law professor and Senior Advocate of Nigeria.
“There are lots of other jobs for a Law Professor and SAN that do not involve doubling down on unintelligent falsehood,” Odinkalu added.
The remark was notably personal and direct one distinguished member of Nigeria’s legal establishment publicly telling another that his professional reputation is being destroyed by his refusal to acknowledge the obvious and take the honourable course of action.
The broader reaction reflected a deepening public perception that the INEC chairmanship controversy is not an isolated incident but a symptom of systemic capture of Nigeria’s electoral institutions by the ruling party.
“We the people don’t want him! We don’t trust him! He is pro-APC! He MUST GO!” one user declared.
“I thought politicians were supposed to be smart people, but these are not smart they’re just being manipulative. His past is who he is. No long talk,” another stated.
“It then means he is truly the owner of the account. Why was he lying in the first place? This clearly shows he’s not a man of his words, he lacks integrity and can’t be trusted to handle such an onerous task of conducting elections for a country of more than 200 million people. Deceitful,” another user wrote.
“An independent institution mustn’t have a partisan person,” another stated, cutting to the constitutional core of the issue.
The trajectory of the controversy has followed a pattern that has progressively undermined INEC’s credibility at each stage.
First, the “Victory is sure” screenshot surfaced and went viral. The account was rapidly changed from @joashamupitan to @Sundayvibe00, locked, and relabelled as a “Parody Account.”
Then INEC categorically denied that Amupitan operates any personal X account, describing the allegations as “total fabrication” and claiming cybercriminals operated fake accounts in his name.
Then TheNigeriaLawyer’s investigation linked the account to Amupitan’s personal Yahoo email from his University of Jos CV, and found the account was created in September 2022 — well before his INEC appointment.
Then SERAP demanded a National Assembly investigation, and Odinkalu questioned why INEC was “afraid of living its name” by refusing independent forensics.
INEC’s ICT Director then stated the commission would investigate using its own forensic experts prompting TheNigeriaLawyer to ask why the accused should be the one to hire and investigate himself.
And now Akpabio’s defence intended to help has effectively confirmed what INEC spent days denying: that the account and the post are Amupitan’s.
Each development has widened the credibility gap, and Akpabio’s intervention may have made it unbridgeable.
The #AmupitanMustGo and #AmupitanMustResign hashtags continue to trend as pressure mounts from civil society, legal practitioners, opposition parties, and ordinary Nigerians.
SERAP’s demand for a National Assembly investigation remains on the table. The NBA has urged INEC to exercise its powers with “utmost neutrality.” And Odinkalu has now explicitly called for resignation.
Whether Amupitan will heed these calls, whether the National Assembly will investigate, or whether the government will continue to circle the wagons around the INEC chairman, remains to be seen.
But as one Nigerian observer noted: “Godswill Akpabio scores another own goal.” In attempting to defend the INEC chairman, the Senate President may have delivered the most damaging blow yet to the commission’s claim that the controversial account was never Amupitan’s.
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