The Executive Director of Paradigm Initiative, Gbenga Sesan, has faulted the independent forensic and cybersecurity investigation commissioned by the Independent National Electoral Commission over an X account allegedly linked to its Chairman, Prof. Joash Amupitan.
INEC, in a statement signed by the Chief Press Secretary to Amupitan, Adedayo Oketola, on Monday, said the claims that Amupitan made a partisan post were “fabricated, technically impossible and part of a coordinated disinformation campaign.”
The report, which relied on X platform data analysis, OSINT tools, internet archive records and timestamp verification, concluded that Prof. Amupitan “does not operate any personal X account.”
A key section of the findings stated, “The X account attributed to Prof. Amupitan is a clear case of impersonation. All alleged posts, replies or statements linked to him are fraudulent and unverifiable.”
The investigation further revealed that the disputed account was created in September 2022 but had no linkage to the professor’s known email or official institutional contacts.
One of the most critical findings centred on timestamp analysis of the viral post.
The report stated, “The alleged reply ‘Victory is sure’ was posted 13 minutes before the original post it responded to. This is physically impossible on any digital platform.”
Investigators also confirmed that the supposed reply does not exist on the live X platform or in any archived version, adding,” The reply has never existed on X. It is absent from both live threads and historical records.”
“The Internet Archive (Wayback Machine) reportedly showed no trace of the account or any activity attributed to it before April 2026.
The report also uncovered what it described as a “deliberate impersonation pattern.”
Reacting to the report, Sesan, who is an IT professional, faulted the forensic investigation, noting that INEC’s alleged attempt to mute valid questions and invalidate genuine concerns is quite worrying.
According to him, “The current occupant of the Twitter handle that they refer to as “a verified cybersecurity researcher” is an APC apologist. Coy Emerald (whose real name is abbreviated O.Y.O.) is affiliated with a certain “Jagaban Army” and has worked for the National IT Agency and the Nigeria Police Force.
“The “independent investigation” says that the renaming and parody pattern is a damage control tactic by an impersonator, but I already flagged this as a possible insider job by those who would deliberately muddy the waters. They could deliberately create multiple accounts, including one in the original name of the INEC Chair, to overshadow the disputed name. One of the new X accounts, @joashamupitan, was created this month and is verified, even though INEC insiders have claimed it is not official.
“Now that new accounts have been created with the same username, the newly associated eMail is what will show up when you try to link an eMail or a phone number with the disputed account. Who benefits from this being the case?
“The Wayback Machine does not capture everything. No web crawler captures everything including tweets and their replies. I hope INEC has not paid the “independent forensic expert” who claims this crawler presents a “definite proof of account fabrication” in full because s/he doesn’t deserve her/his balance.”
On the timestamp analysis, Sesan said, “The attempt at using a timestamp to invalidate the “victory is sure” reply falls flat on its face because the tweet by @dayoisrael was EDITED! It’s right there: “Last edited 4:18 PM · Mar 18, 2023”. If you say the reply was made 13 minutes before the tweet that was being replied to, how do you prove that the original tweet that was edited at 4:18pm was not originally posted before 4:05pm? “Cannot” is not a word that an expert would use in this case.”
Commenting on the live platform verification, the IT expert, noted that the attempt to suggest that not finding the “victory is sure” reply on Twitter means it never existed was lazy.
According to him, “As an interested party, the author of the original tweet could hide replies to his tweet. Similarly, anyone who posts a reply is able to delete it. If this were impersonation by someone who wishes to malign or implicate the INEC Chair, why would they delete the tweet? If the account was managed by the INEC Chair or his aides, would there be any motive to delete the reply in order to make this claim? You don’t need an “independent forensic expert” label to answer that question.”
Olamilekan Adigun is a graduate of Mass Communication with years of experience in journalism embedded in uncovering human interest stories. He also prioritises accuracy and factual reportage of issues.
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