Joash Amupitan, a senior advocate of Nigeria (SAN), has been confirmed by the senate to serve as the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) chairperson.
Amupitan promised to protect the independence and integrity of Nigeria’s election process during his two-hour screening by the upper legislative house on Thursday, which resulted in his confirmation.
The law professor emphasised the value of technology in increasing openness when discussing lessons learnt from the general election of 2023.
However, he pointed out that uncertainty was caused by misunderstandings of the INEC result viewing (IReV) portal’s function.
“I believe what happened in 2023 was assumed as a glitch,” he said.
“Before we went into the election, my own understanding, based on the review of the decisions of the Supreme Court, we found that there was no clarity as to the purpose of IReV.
“Not until the Supreme Court came out to say that IReV was not an electronic collation system, and that position was not properly brought out before the election.
“The IReV was supposed to be a safeguard for comparison, because the laws made by this distinguished Senate did not do away with manual collation.
“However, IReV was supposed to provide some guarantee for checks and balances.”
In order to guarantee dependability before upcoming elections, Amupitan also stated that he will commission a thorough evaluation of INEC’s IT infrastructure.
Additionally, he pledged to collaborate with other organisations to guarantee election integrity.
The senator from Bauchi South, Shehu Buba, made a motion after the nominee’s presentation asking him to “take a bow and go,” a custom reserved for honourable nominees. Olamilekan Solomon of Ogun West seconded the proposal.
The Senate overwhelmingly approved Amupitan’s appointment after Senate President Godswill Akpabio put the confirmation to a voice vote.
“The nominee answered questions from distinguished senators and took away written submissions as a working document on topical electoral issues,” Akpabio said while announcing the confirmation.
“Accordingly, the Senate hereby approves the nomination of Professor Joash Amupitan, SAN, as Chairman of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC).”
Respected scholar and attorney Amupitan takes over for Mahmood Yakubu, who left office on October 7, 2025, in the midst of heated national discussions about electoral changes.
