The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) on Monday said that a forensic probe has shown that the allegation that its Chairman, Joash Amupitan, operates an X (formerly Twitter) account and made a partisan post is a case of digital impersonation.
In a statement issued on Monday, the electoral body said it subjected the viral claim—circulated through screenshots on social media—to a comprehensive forensic investigation, including an independent review by a cybersecurity expert.
The probe, it said, deployed X platform data, internet archive records, OSINT tools, identity forensics, and cross-platform analysis.
INEC said the findings showed that Amupitan does not operate any personal X account, stressing that all posts attributed to him are “fraudulent, forensically unverifiable, technically impossible, and part of a coordinated disinformation.”
Among the key findings, the commission noted that the disputed account, @joashamupitan, was created in September 2022 but had no linkage to the chairman’s verified email addresses.
It added that timestamp analysis exposed inconsistencies, including an alleged 2026 reply—“Victory is sure”—which appeared 13 minutes before the original post it purportedly responded to.
