2027: Muslims won’t accept elections conducted by INEC chairman, Sharia council warns

The Supreme Council for Shari’ah in Nigeria (SCSN) has renewed its call for the removal of the Chairman of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), Professor Joash Amupitan, warning that the 2027 general elections would lack legitimacy if conducted under his leadership.

The Council said Muslims across Nigeria would neither recognise nor legitimise any election presided over by Amupitan, citing alleged integrity and neutrality concerns.

President of the Council, Sheikh Bashir Umar, made the declaration on Tuesday during the SCSN’s 2026 Annual Pre-Ramadan Lecture and General Assembly held in Abuja, themed “Nigeria’s Future: Faith, Justice, and Leadership.”

Umar said the Council’s position was informed by what it described as the INEC chairman’s questionable antecedents, particularly a legal brief he allegedly authored suggesting the existence of a Christian genocide in Nigeria, a claim the Federal Government has consistently rejected.

“This is not the first time the Council is raising this concern,” Umar said. “In a legal brief personally authored by Professor Amupitan, he sought to establish the existence of a so-called Christian genocide in Nigeria, a position that directly contradicts the official stance of the Federal Government, which has categorically stated that no such genocide exists.”

According to him, the position amounted to divisive propaganda and raised serious doubts about the impartiality of the head of Nigeria’s electoral umpire.

“For an umpire in a democratic process, integrity and neutrality are non-negotiable,” Umar said. “As far as we are concerned, that integrity has been compromised. The honourable option is resignation. If he fails to do so, the government should dismiss or retire him.”

The Council further warned that the Muslim Ummah would not accept the outcome of any election conducted under an INEC leadership clouded by allegations of bias.

“The Ummah will not recognise or legitimise any election presided over by a character with such questionable integrity,” Umar said. “The credibility of Nigeria’s democracy must never be compromised.”

When contacted, a source at INEC dismissed the allegations, describing them as an attempt to attract attention and saying the commission would not dignify the claims with a response.

Asked whether the Council intended to pursue legal action, Umar said the SCSN was an advocacy body and not directly involved in litigation, but noted that other groups had already approached the courts to challenge Amupitan’s appointment and continued stay in office.

Beyond electoral issues, the Council also raised concerns over worsening insecurity, economic hardship, poor budget implementation, alleged imbalance in federal appointments, and what it described as attempts to undermine Muslims’ constitutional right to practise Shari’ah in Muslim-majority states.

The SCSN also rejected narratives of a Christian genocide in Nigeria, warning that such claims were dangerous, divisive and capable of undermining national cohesion.

Speaking at the event, the Chairman of the House of Representatives Committee on Ecological Funds, Aminu Sani Jaji, said the timing of the Pre-Ramadan lecture was significant in light of Nigeria’s security and socio-political challenges, cautioning that unverified and inflammatory narratives could further worsen tensions.

The chairman of the occasion, the Madakin Zazzau, Mallam Muhammadu Munir Ja’afaru, described the Council as a consistent and principled voice of the Nigerian Muslim Ummah, committed to justice, peaceful coexistence and national unity through constructive engagement.