By Enyichukwu Enemanna
The Nigerian upper legislative chamber on Thursday cleared a Professor of Law, Joash Amupitan as the new Chairman of the West African nation’s electoral commission, succeeding Yakubu Mahmood who recently bowed out of office following the expiration of his tenure of office.
His confirmation as the chairman of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) came after a televised screening exercise that lasted for over two hours.
The 58-year-old senior lecturer who was nominated by President Bola Tinubu had last week been endorsed by the National Council of State, a body comprising former Presidents and Heads of State and governors.
He hails from Kogi State, North Central Nigeria. Amupitan becomes the sixth substantive Chairman of INEC.
The body has come under public scrutiny following the 2023 presidential election that produced Tinubu as the President. There has been a divided opinion on the transparency of the process due to failure of the commission under Mahmood to transmit election results from polling units to central server.
It cited “glitches” for the failure despite repeated promises before the polls. He has been challenged to initiate reforms that will strengthen public trust in the electoral system as the country gears for general elections in 2027.
More details soon.
