INEC Chairman, Prof Amupitan, Once Authored Legal Brief Alleging Genocide and Government Complicity in NigeriaA 2020 legal report authored by the Senior Advocate has resurfaced, describing alleged mass killings in Nigeria as acts of genocide and calling for urgent international intervention.
The document, titled “Nigeria’s Silent Slaughter”, was published by the International Committee on Nigeria (ICON), a coalition of Nigerian and international human rights advocates.
Within the report, Amupitan’s contribution “Legal Brief: Genocide in Nigeria – The Implications for the International Community” outlines in detail what he termed as “a pogrom and systematic attacks” targeting Christians and minority ethnic groups.
The brief, signed under his law firm Prof. Joash Ojo Amupitan (SAN) & Co., was written long before his appointment as INEC chairman. In it, he accused successive Nigerian governments of failing to prosecute perpetrators of mass killings, warning that the country risked repeating “the Rwandan and Sudanese tragedies” if urgent action was not taken.
“It is a notorious fact that there is perpetration of crimes under international law in Nigeria — crimes against humanity, war crimes, and genocide,” Amupitan wrote, urging the United Nations and other global powers to intervene.
He specifically cited the violence perpetrated by Boko Haram and Fulani herdsmen, describing both as extremist movements responsible for “an orgy of bloodbath and displacement across several states.” While Boko Haram was declared a terrorist organization in 2013, Amupitan criticized the government’s reluctance to officially categorize Fulani militants as terrorists.
The legal scholar further argued that the Nigerian state had failed in its constitutional duty to protect lives and property, making foreign intervention a “moral and legal necessity.”
Tracing the origins of Nigeria’s ethno-religious conflict, Amupitan linked present-day violence to the 1804 jihad of Uthman Dan Fodio, claiming that the ideological quest for “Islamization” had persisted through political and militant structures over time.
“The drive for Islamisation through the 1804 jihad has reappeared in modern extremist movements. The Caliphate influence remains a dominant force in Nigeria’s governance and security structure,” he asserted.
The brief also accused Nigerian authorities of avoiding the use of the term “genocide” to evade global accountability and intervention.
“Concealing genocide becomes a strategy to guard sovereignty and protect ego, at the expense of innocent lives,” he stated.
Amupitan concluded by urging the UN, military powers, and international legal bodies to treat Nigeria’s crisis as a matter requiring immediate third-party intervention, emphasizing that international law supersedes state sovereignty in cases of genocide and crimes against humanity.
His 2020 stance has now sparked renewed debate over his neutrality as INEC Chairman, with observers questioning how his past advocacy might influence his leadership of Nigeria’s top electoral body.
