INEC Chairman Confronted, Held Hostage By Protesters Outside Chatham House In London

The Chairman of the Independent National Electoral Commission, Prof. Joash Amupitan, was on Thursday, November 12, 2026, held hostage by a group of angry Nigerians in London, United Kingdom.

The protesters ambushed Amupitan’s convoy on his way to Chatham House, surrounding his vehicle and demanding that he come out and speak to them.

Video footage of the encounter showed one of the demonstrators jumping on the bonnet of the INEC Chairman’s car as others rained abuse on him, labelling him a criminal.

The Nigeria diaspora activists accused the INEC Chairman of undue support for the ruling All Progressives Congress and called for his resignation over allegations of irregularities in the preliminary voters’ register.

Their complaints included claims of duplicate entries, the use of artificial intelligence-generated images, and the existence of fake polling units.

The protesters also expressed concerns about the voters’ register ahead of the 2027 general elections, alleging that the register contains fake voter details, including names and photographs suspected to have been generated using artificial intelligence.

Members of the crowd were heard calling out his name and repeatedly demanding that he come out of the car and speak to them. Towards the end of the video, a man could be heard saying, “You want to mess with the electoral process…”.

The protest took place as Amupitan visited Chatham House, where he was scheduled to participate in a discussion on Nigeria’s electoral process. The atmosphere remained tense, with security personnel and bystanders present at the scene.

Amupitan has faced growing criticism this year, with UK-based protesters previously calling for his removal, accusing him of alleged partisanship and claiming ties to the ruling APC.

Much of the dispute has centred on a contested X account. INEC had previously released a forensic report stating that the account attributed to him is fake and part of a coordinated impersonation campaign, though some have continued to challenge that conclusion.

The allegations raised by the demonstrators have not been independently established.