Claim: Sharia Council do not want a Christian as INEC Chairman
Source: Facebook Post
Verdict: Misleading
Researched by Gifty Tracy Aminu
A viral Facebook post has suggested that the chairman of the Sharia Council of Nigeria has said the group does not want a Christian as the chairman of the elections management body, the Independent National Electoral Commission of Nigeria (INEC).
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The post shared on January 29, 2026, shows images of Sheikh Dr Bashir Aliyu Umar, the President of the Supreme Council of Sharia of Nigeria (SCSN) and Professor Joash Amupitan, the new chairman of INEC, with the caption “We don’t want Christian as INEC Chairman – Sharia Council Chairman says.” The post has gathered 4,400 likes, 8,900 comments and 718 shares at the time of filing this report.
“Sharia Council demands INEC chairman’s removal, warns Muslims won’t recognise 2027 polls under his leadership due to all£ged brief suggesting Christian genocide,” the post detailed.
FactSpace West Africa also found other Facebook users sharing a similar narrative. (here and here). This fact-check will verify whether the Sharia Council has objected to a Christian as INEC Chairman
Fact-Check
FactSpace West Africa’s investigation into the comment by the President of the Supreme Council of Sharia, Sheikh Dr Bashir Aliyu Umar, found that he made some remarks about the appointment of the Chairman of INEC, Professor Joash Amupitan.
According to news reports, the said comments were made at the Council’s 2026 Annual Pre-Ramadan Lecture and General Assembly in Abuja, themed “Nigeria’s Future: Faith, Justice, and Leadership.”
FactSpace found a 2-minute 15-second video from Wisal TV of the Sharia Council President speaking at the occasion, shared by an X user. In the video, Dr. Aliyu Umar could be heard speaking in both English and Hausa.
“The council demands the immediate removal and prosecution of the INEC Chairman and declares that no election under a cloud of compromised integrity can be recognised as credible.”
After this point, he moved on to condemn the genocide in Gaza before translating the Council’s position on the INEC chairman into Hasua.
A translation of his remarks in Hausa was as follows: “ The Council, on good grounds and clear evidence, has resolved that the newly sworn-in INEC chairman has openly acted in ways that are a betrayal of the nation, and he engaged in propaganda aimed at dividing Nigeria and compromising its unity as one nation, especially, on his actions that justify the notion of a Christian genocide.
“We therefore demand that he be immediately relieved. The Council stands on its view because Muslims cannot accept a free and fair election if the umpire is someone accused of unfairness and someone who is not widely accepted as should be the case in a democracy.”
Meanwhile, FactSpace also found a press statement from the Nigerian Supreme Council of Sharia seeking to clarify their position on the appointment of Professor Joash Amupitan as INEC Chairman.
In the statement, the Council highlighted a few things, including that out of the 13 persons who were appointed to Chair the INEC, only two were Muslims. “At no point in Nigeria’s history have Muslims mobilised opposition against any electoral chairman or any other leadership position on religious grounds. All were accepted based on institutional legitimacy, not faith. This historical record decisively invalidates the claim that the present call is rooted in religious bias.
“What distinguishes Prof. Amupitan’s case is therefore not his religion, but the documented record of conduct and views attributed to him, which fundamentally contradict the neutrality required of an electoral umpire,” the statement emphasised.
Also, the Sharia Council President shared a similar statement with a reel on his Facebook page, which partly read, “ This is NOT about religion.”
Professor Joash Amupitan’s Legal Brief on Nigeria’s Silent Slaughter Genocide in Nigeria: The Implications for the International Community cited incidents of killings led by Boko Haram in Christian communities and the forceful conversion of Christians to Muslims. The paper highlighted that “Boko Haram targets Christians, other non-Muslims and even Muslims opposed to their ideologies of Salafi-Jihad.”
Verdict
Therefore, the headline given to the viral Facebook post is misleading.
