ADC Threatens Civil Disobedience To Force INEC Chairman To Resign

The African Democratic Congress (ADC) has threatened to activate and sustain civil disobedience aimed at forcing the chairman of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), Prof Joash Amupitan to resign from office.

The party’s threat is coming on the heels of fresh revelations of Prof Amupitan’s old tweets on his X handle depicting his support for President Bola Tinubu and the All Progressives Congress (APC).

Although INEC had officially dissociated Amupitan from the said tweets, records obtained by experts from the micro blogging platform confirmed that the tweets actually originated from him.

The party’s position was shared in a statement shared on X and other platforms on Saturday by ADC National Publicity Secretary, Bolaji Abdullahi.

“We will also renew and escalate our civil disobedience action until the INEC chairman leaves office,” the statement said in part.

“The recent revelation linking a pro-Bola Ahmed Tinubu tweet of 2023 to the Chairman of the Independent National Electoral Commission, Professor Amupitan, is not merely disturbing, it is a grave affront to the integrity of our electoral system,” the party added.

The ADC further argued that in a democracy, the umpire must be above suspicion, stressing that he must not only be independent, but also must be seen, beyond any reasonable doubt, to be independent.

Continuing, the party said, “That is the minimum standard required of anyone entrusted with the sacred duty of conducting free and fair elections.

“However, more troubling is the desperate attempt to tamper with digital records, to erase evidence of his previous partisanship.

“This is not a trivial matter. It is a calculated assault on truth and accountability.

“A man who manipulates records to save himself cannot be trusted to safeguard the mandate of millions.”

The ADC noted that 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.”.

The opposition party said it would be relying on this evidence to continue updating its petitions to all relevant institutions, including foreign governments and the Nigeria Bar Association (NBA).