How Tinubu’s INEC Chairman, Prof. Amupitan, Authored 2020 Legal Brief Describing Killings in Nigeria as Genocide

Fresh details have emerged about Nigeria’s newly appointed Chairman of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), Prof. Joash Ojo Amupitan (SAN), who authored a 2020 legal brief describing widespread violence and mass killings in Nigeria as acts of genocide.

Documents published by Sahara Reporters show that Amupitan’s paper, titled “Legal Brief: Genocide in Nigeria – The Implications for the International Community”, was featured in a 2020 publication by the International Committee on Nigeria (ICON), a coalition of Nigerian and international human rights advocates. The report, Nigeria’s Silent Slaughter, called for urgent global action to halt what Amupitan described as “pogrom and attacks against Christians and minority groups in Nigeria.”

The legal brief, issued under his law firm Prof. Joash Ojo Amupitan (SAN) & Co. Legal Practitioners & Corporate Consultants with offices in Jos and Abuja, confirms his authorship long before his recent appointment by President Bola Tinubu.

In the document, Amupitan declared that “it is a notorious fact that there is perpetration of crimes under international law in Nigeria, particularly crimes against humanity, war crimes and genocide.” He warned that the government’s continued failure to prosecute offenders or protect vulnerable communities could lead to the kind of mass atrocities witnessed in Rwanda and Sudan.

He identified Boko Haram and armed Fulani herdsmen as the two violent extremist groups fueling widespread insecurity and displacement, noting that while Boko Haram had been formally designated a terrorist group since 2013, the Fulani herdsmen had only been “labelled” as such without official recognition.

Amupitan accused the Nigerian government of constitutional failure, arguing that its refusal to bring perpetrators to justice made international intervention “a moral and legal necessity.” His brief stressed that most victims were Christians and minority ethnic groups, and that the state had neglected its duty to provide welfare and security — the core purpose of governance.

Linking the current violence to historical roots, Amupitan traced its origins to the 1804 jihad led by Uthman Dan Fodio, which he described as “a full-blown Islamization agenda.” He argued that this ideology has persisted, influencing political power structures and perpetuating conflicts in northern Nigeria.

The legal scholar also accused authorities of deliberately avoiding the term “genocide” to shield the state from international accountability, writing that governments “conceal genocide to guard sovereignty and protect ego, at the expense of innocent lives.”

Amupitan concluded his brief with a direct appeal for the United Nations and major world powers to intervene, asserting that both state and non-state actors had been implicated in grave crimes under international law. He warned that Nigeria’s situation “beckons the urgent need for a neutral and impartial third-party intervention, especially the UN and its key organs, the military and economic superpowers.”

He maintained that sovereignty cannot override global responsibility in cases of genocide, writing that “in a globalised world, State sovereignty diminishes to accommodate the common interests of the global community concretised by a mixture of consent, consensus and compelling norms.”