Newly nominated INEC Chairman, Prof. Joash Amupitan (SAN)
Senate has officially confirmed Professor Joash Amupitan (SAN) as the new Chairman of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), marking a significant transition in the nation’s electoral leadership.
Amupitan, a respected legal scholar and Senior Advocate of Nigeria from Kogi State, steps into the role following the tenure of Prof. Mahmood Yakubu, who led the commission from 2015 to 2025.
His confirmation came after extensive deliberations on the Senate floor, where lawmakers grilled him on key national electoral issues.
Addressing concerns about his political neutrality, Amupitan clarified:
> “I did not lead the legal team of President Bola Tinubu at the Presidential Election Petitions Tribunal. I did not appear at the tribunal either at the Court of Appeal or at the Supreme Court.”
As he takes the helm at INEC, Amupitan expressed his commitment to reforming Nigeria’s electoral process through collaboration with agencies such as the National Identity Management Commission (NIMC) and the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC).
> “It is not INEC’s responsibility alone,” he stated. “We have other agencies like NCC, NIMC and the service providers — we have to work together to give Nigerians a technology that everybody will be happy about.”
One of his top priorities, he emphasized, would be a comprehensive audit of INEC’s operations—especially concerning logistics and digital infrastructure.
> “There will definitely be an audit… particularly of the logistics. We all know the problem, so we’ll find a proper strategy to confront those problems headlong.”
On the issue of third-party logistics, which has long been a weak point in Nigeria’s electoral logistics chain, Amupitan acknowledged the shortcomings:
> “We rely on third-party logistics to transport sensitive election materials. Some of these vehicles are old; they don’t go too far. When they drop the materials, they don’t even wait to bring them back.”
Amupitan also addressed widespread confusion over the INEC Result Viewing Portal (IReV) and its role in the last elections.
> “Not until the Supreme Court came out to say that IReV was not an electronic collation system, that issue was not properly thrashed out before the election,” he noted. “The IReV was supposed to be a safeguard for comparison, but the laws made by this distinguished Senate did not do away with manual collations.”
He pledged to strengthen internal checks and reinforce trust across INEC’s operations.
> “In the first place, I’m taking this position on trust — and the people I’m going to work with must also appreciate the fact that they are there on trust.”
Amupitan also called for the creation of an electoral offences commission to handle investigations and prosecutions of those who violate electoral laws.
Senator Sunday Karimi, representing Kogi West, spoke on behalf of the state’s lawmakers and applauded Amupitan’s nomination:
> “This is the first time Kogi is having one of its own as an INEC chairman. Let’s allow him to work for our electoral process to yield positive results.”
In closing, Senate President Godswill Akpabio expressed optimism about Amupitan’s potential impact:
> “I wish Prof. Amupitan well and pray that his services will improve the electoral process, lead to more transparency, and ensure that every vote counts and that the winners are truly the ones that are announced.”
Prof. Amupitan’s confirmation sets the stage for what could be a transformative era in Nigeria’s electoral administration.
NAN
