President Bola Tinubu has sworn in Prof. Joash Amupitan as the Chairman of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC).
This is coming a week after the Senate confirmed his nomination following a rigorous screening session on 16 October.
President Tinubu charged Amupitan to protect the integrity of country’s elections and electoral process as well as strengthen the institutional capacity of INEC.
Amupitan arrived at the State House on Thursday morning, dressed in a white agbada paired with a gold cap, exchanging greetings with onlookers ahead of the ceremony to formalise his assumption of office as the head of the nation’s electoral umpire.
The Professor of Law was accompanied by some presidential aides.
During his screening at the Senate last week, the 58-year-old academic was questioned by Senators on his plans to restore credibility to Nigeria’s electoral process and drive meaningful reforms within the commission.
Amupitan, whose nomination by President Tinubu was endorsed by the National Council of State, succeeds Prof. Mahmood Yakubu, whose tenure as INEC Chairman officially ended recently.
He thus becomes the sixth substantive head of the electoral body.
While addressing the Senate during his screening, Amupitan had promised to prioritise electoral reforms that would ensure transparent polls and boost public confidence in election outcomes.
He stated that his focus would be on strengthening the provisions of the Electoral Act to address inconsistencies in election timelines and promote credibility in the process.
‘We must conduct elections where even the loser will congratulate the winner and say, ‘You won fairly and well.’ When that happens, voters’ confidence will naturally be restored’, he said.
The Senior Advocate of Nigeria also dismissed reports linking him to President Tinubu’s legal team during the 2023 presidential election petition, clarifying that he neither represented the President nor appeared for any of the opposition candidates.
‘I never appeared before the presidential election tribunal or the Supreme Court for any of the parties’, he told lawmakers, reaffirming his neutrality.
Amupitan is expected to take over immediately after his swearing-in and begin the transition process at the commission’s headquarters in Abuja.
His first major task is the Anambra State governorship election, to be hold on 8 November.
Born on 25 April 1967, Amupitan hails from Ayetoro Gbede in Ijumu Local Government Area of Kogi State. He is a Professor of Law at the University of Jos (Unijos), Plateau State. He is also an alumnus of the university.
He specialises in Company Law, Law of Evidence, Corporate Governance and Privatisation Law. He became a Senior Advocate of Nigeria in September 2014.
After completing primary and secondary education, he attended Kwara State Polytechnic, Ilorin, from 1982 to 1984, and the University of Jos from 1984 to 1987. He was called to the bar in 1988.
Amupitan earned an LLM at Unijos in 1993 and a PhD in 2007, amid an academic career that began in 1989, following his National Youth Service at the Bauchi State Publishing Corporation in Bauchi from 1988 to 1989.
Until his new appointment, he was the Deputy Vice-Chancellor (Administration) at Unijos, a position he held in conjunction with being the Pro-Chancellor and Chairman of the Governing Council of Joseph Ayo Babalola University in Osun State.
