The Supreme Council for Shari’ah in Nigeria has rejected the credibility of any election conducted by INEC under its current chairman, citing alleged bias and loss of confidence.
The Supreme Council for Shari’ah in Nigeria (SCSN) on Wednesday declared that the Muslim Ummah will not recognise any election conducted by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) under the leadership of its chairman, Prof. Joash Amupitan. The council made the declaration during its annual pre-Ramadan lecture and general assembly held in Abuja.
The council also called for the immediate removal of Amupitan, citing a lack of confidence in his integrity and ability to be fair to all faiths in Nigeria. According to the SCSN, the continued leadership of Amupitan at INEC undermines trust in the electoral process and threatens national cohesion.
Speaking at the event, the president of the council, Sheikh Bashir Aliyu Umar, said the mistrust stemmed from Amupitan’s authorship of a brief claiming that Christians in Nigeria are victims of genocide, a claim repeatedly dismissed by the federal government. Amupitan had also described the Boko Haram insurgency and attacks by “Fulani herdsmen” as part of a coordinated anti-Christian campaign requiring international intervention, and was listed as a contributor to the 2020 publication Nigeria’s Silent Slaughter: Genocide in Nigeria and the Implications for the International Community, released by the International Committee on Nigeria (ICON) and the International Organisation on Peace-building & Social Justice (PSJ).