Senate President Godwill Akpabio has defended the embattled chairman of the Independent National Electoral Commission, Joash Amupitan, amid ongoing controversy over an alleged partisan social media post in 2023.

Speaking at the inauguration of the new Nigeria Revenue Service headquarters in Abuja on Tuesday, Mr Akpabio said the tweet was not directed at any political party.

“They [critics]changed and said, ‘okay let’s attack the people that will do the election,’ and they brought out a tweet, the one they said the INEC chairman wrote, ‘Victory is sure,’” he stated. “He didn’t say victory is sure for APC, he didn’t say victory is sure for PDP.”

Noting that the controversial tweet was manipulated, Mr Akpabio said Mr Amupitan could support anybody as a private citizen.

He added, “And the man (Mr Amupitan) said, ‘it was manipulated,’ but nobody wants to hear. But for me, whether manipulated or not, he said ‘victory is sure.’

“He was not chairman of INEC, he was just a mere lecturer. Anybody can support anybody he wishes to support, but when you are on a seat, you have to think of all the entire country and all the entire populace, and that’s what they are doing.”

Mr Akpabio’s statement followed Mr Amupitan’s alleged partisan tweets in support of the All Progressives Congress in March 2023. 

Despite evidence pointing contradicting the claim, the INEC insisted Mr Amupitan did not own, operate any personal account on X, engage in partisan commentary or associate himself with any political leaning or activity in his private or public capacity.

Meanwhile, the commission’s ICT director, Lawrence Bayode, said INEC had referred the issue to security agencies, vowing to engage a third-party forensic expert to look into the matter.