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INEC’s claim on ‘impossible timestamp’ in Amupitan’s X account controversy is false

Nurudeen Akewushola
Nurudeen Akewushola
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File Photo : INEC chairman, Joash Amupitan

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THE Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) has claimed that a viral comment linked to an X account attributed to its chairman was posted before the original pro-APC post it was responding to.

The FactCheckHub had earlier reported that an account previously known as @joashamupitan reacted to a post by former APC National Youth Leader, Dayo Israel, who was celebrating an APC victory in an Igbo-dominated community in Lagos, by posting “victory is sure.”

The account was later renamed @Sundayvibe00 on April 10, 2026, locked, and labelled a parody account.

Following the controversy, the commission released a six-page forensic report distancing its chairman from the account.

In the report, INEC stated:

“Timestamp analysis shows the alleged 2026 reply, ‘Victory is sure’, was posted 13 minutes before the original post by @dayoisreal. This is physically impossible on any digital platform.”

CLAIM

The comment linked to the X account attributed to the INEC chairman was posted before the original pro-APC post.

THE FINDINGS

Findings by The FactCheckHub show that the claim is FALSE.

Checks show that INEC’s conclusion is based on a misinterpretation of the timeline.

Screenshot of the victory is sure comment by the X account linked to INEC chairman

A review of the edit history of Dayo Israel’s post shows that the original post was made at 4:02 pm and later edited at 4:18 pm.

The timestamp on the viral reply “victory is sure”  is consistently recorded as 4:05 pm across multiple screenshots and archives.

 

The first post by Dayo Israel

 

The edited post by Dayo Israel

 

The 13-minute gap cited by INEC corresponds to the difference between the reply (4:05 pm) and the edited version of the post (4:18 pm), not the original post (4:02 pm).

This means the reply was made after the original post, not before it, contradicting INEC’s claim that the sequence is “physically impossible.”

VERDICT

The claim that the comment was posted before the original post is FALSE. Available evidence shows that the reply was made after the initial post but before it was edited, undermining INEC’s timestamp analysis.

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Nurudeen Akewushola is a fact-checker with FactCheckHub. He has authored several fact checks which have contributed to the fight against information disorder. You can reach him via nyahaya@icirnigeria.org and @NurudeenAkewus1 via Twitter.

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