By Henry Umoru
ABUJA- National Chairman of the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, Prof. Joash Amupitan, SAN, yesterday, began his tenure on a promising note, assuring that under his watch, elections will be so credible that losers will congratulate winners.
However, Amupitan said he will accomplish this with the support of relevant agencies like the National Identity Management Commission, NIMC, Nigerian Communications Commission, NCC, and others.
He spoke in the Senate before and after the Senate confirmed his appointment by President Bola Tinubu as INEC chairman.
“Our ultimate goal is to make elections so credible that even the loser will be able to congratulate the winner in good faith just as a judge delivers judgment and both sides accept it as fair and just,” he told the lawmakers while answering a question.
Amupitan’s confirmation was sequel to the screening exercise at the Senate, where the senators grilled the nominee of President Tinubu for three hours, asking him questions which he answered.
After the grilling in the Committee of the Whole, the Senate resolved back to plenary, where the President of the Senate, Senator Godswill Akpabio, asked if the confirmation was a true reflection of the House, and the ayes’ response was resounding.
Akpabio said Amupitan was approved without any dissenting voice, and asked the INEC chief to ensure that every vote counts in future polls.
With the confirmation, Amupitan succeeded Prof. Mahmood Yakubu, who served as chairman of the electoral body for 10 years and quit on October 7.
Amupitan was allowed into the chamber at 12.50pm, after the Senate Leader, Senator Opeyemi Bamidele(APC, Ekiti Central), moved that Order 12 be set aside to allow strangers into the chamber and it was seconded by the Senate Minority Leader, Senator Abba Moro(PDP, Benue South).
Before introducing himself to the Senators for question and answer session to take off, Senate President Akpabio said that the nominee had been cleared by the office of the Department of State Services, DSS, the National Security Adviser, NSA, and Inspector-General of Police, IGP after vetting and finger-printing.
Answering series of questions from the Senators, Amupitan, the Kogi-born Professor of Law among others said: “I did not lead the legal team of the President at the Presidential Election Petition Tribunal. I did not appear at the Tribunal either at the Court of Appeal or at the Supreme Court.”
He also said he did not serve as part of the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, or Labour Party, LP, legal teams.
“I was not a member of any team,” Amupitan, who was the Deputy Vice-Chancellor of University of Jos (UniJos) in Plateau State said.
Credible polls
On his core election job, Amupitan said: “Mr. President, distinguished Senators, the concern raised is indeed a major one and it reflects the worry of many Nigerians. One of the first things we must do at the commission is to establish a credible internal mechanism to monitor the conduct and behaviour of officials.”
Answering another question, he vowed that he will conduct an audit of the INEC results viewing (IReV) portal to address glitches that undermined public confidence during the 2023, noting that the purpose of the bimodal voter accreditation system, BVAS, and IreV, were to ensure the integrity of elections, a goal shared by election technologies worldwide.
His words: “I believe what happened in 2023 was subsumed as a glitch. Before the election, my understanding, based on a review of Supreme Court decisions, was that there was no clarity as to the purpose of IReV.”
The IReV portal was part of the technologies introduced by the commission to improve the transparency of the electoral process.
INEC had assured Nigerians that polling unit results would be uploaded to the portal real-time during the 2023 presidential election, just as the portal remained inactive for an extended period, even after voting was concluded at some polling units, prompting suspicion from many Nigerians.
The INEC Chairman noted that the Supreme Court later clarified that IReV was not an electronic collation system, a position that was not adequately communicated by INEC before the election.
He said: “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.
“On the issue of court decisions and technological systems, there has been confusion over certain innovations introduced by INEC, such as the electronic collation system. The Supreme Court has clarified some of these matters. When we assume office, we will assess the infrastructure on ground, review the technology, and adopt the best approach that enhances transparency and credibility in elections.
“I have to audit the system, if I’m given the opportunity, to see what is actually wrong and whether we have what it takes as it is now. Because it is not just the INEC responsibility, but also the other agencies like NCC, NIMC and the service providers that will have to work together to ensure that we give Nigerians the technology that everybody will be happy about.
“There will definitely be an audit of the system we are meeting and especially of the logistics of the election itself and ensure that the proper strategy is put in place. We all know the problem. So, we’ll find a proper strategy to be able to confront those problems headlong.”
Amupitan added that there was the need for an electoral offence commission that will be able to investigate perpetrators of electoral offences.
He said: “I am taking this position on trust, and those who will work with me must also recognise that they are holding the trust of the Nigerian people. To maintain integrity, I intend to set up an Ethics and Compliance Committee within INEC to audit reported cases of misconduct.
“There have been numerous reports of electoral malpractice in the past, some of which were never properly addressed. In some instances such as in Bayelsa and Adamawa states, a few offenders were prosecuted and even convicted. We intend to follow through on such cases to ensure accountability.”
Amupitan, who disclosed that the commission will introduce a whistleblower policy within it to encourage people to report malpractices without fear of victimisation, said: “We plan to develop a system that can detect, investigate, and prosecute misconduct, supported by forensic methods when necessary and strengthen INEC’s internal disciplinary process to ensure that all those involved in wrongdoing are brought to justice.”
On logistics and security of electoral materials, Amupitan said: “ I recognise that these are major challenges due to the size and diversity of our country. We will work closely with the Joint Committee on Election Security to enhance protection of materials, personnel, and voters especially in high-risk areas.
“We will also invest more in logistics and technology to ensure that every part of Nigeria is adequately reached. If necessary, we can deploy innovations such as drones and other secure means to guarantee that election materials reach their destinations. No voter will be left behind. That will be our guiding principle.
“Regarding timelines and inconsistencies in the Electoral Act, I acknowledge that some provisions contradict each other. We will work to harmonise these timelines to remove ambiguity. A clear and consistent electoral timetable will help to build public confidence and reduce post-election disputes.
“On financial prudence, I assure this chamber that the laws already enacted by the National Assembly, particularly the Public Procurement Act and the Finance Act will be strictly adhered to.
INEC funds will be used only for the purposes for which they are appropriated, and we will seek ways to cut costs where possible without compromising efficiency.
“In summary, our approach will be guided by integrity, accountability, security, efficiency, and education to ensure that elections in Nigeria truly reflect the will of the people.”
Senate stands down Electoral Act amendment
Meanwhile, plans to begin consideration of a series of amendments to the 2022 Electoral Act, yesterday, suffered a setback in the Senate as the bill was stood down.
Both Committees of the Senate and House of Representatives, on Monday, conducted a public hearing on the Electoral Act Amendment Bill 2025, which among others, proposed conduct of presidential and governorship elections for 2027 in November 2026 as against February or March of the election year.
Yesterday’s consideration of the bill ran into troubled waters in the Senate after Chairman of the Senate Committee on Electoral Matters, Senator Simon Lalong(Plateau South), read a lead debate on it.
In his presentation, Senator Lalong noted the bill which was laid for First Reading on October 8, 2025, is not a mere amendment, but a comprehensive reform, a repeal and enactment, intended to provide Nigeria with a stronger, more credible, and more inclusive electoral framework.
Lalong said: “The 2023 general elections tested our democracy in profound ways. While the Electoral Act, 2022 delivered some landmark innovations, it also exposed deep flaws of our country’s electoral system with critical gaps -delays in the release of election funds, disputes over the voter register, conflicting interpretations of result transmission, widespread litigation from party primaries, and weak enforcement of electoral offences.
“Nigerians expect us to respond not with patchwork corrections, but with a holistic, future-facing law that restores faith in our elections.”
Specifically, Section 4 (7) of the proposed amendment states “ Elections into the office of the President and Governor of a State shall be held not later than 185 days before the expiration of the term of office of the last holder of the office”
With this, calculation of the 185 days before May 29, 2027, clearly shows that the election must be conducted in November 2026 , since the number of days from May 28, 2027 to December 1, 2026, is 180 days.
How trouble started
Trouble started during general debate among Senators especially when Senator Titus Zam (Benue North East), urged the Senate, as earlier submitted by Senator Binos Yeroe, that the bill should be passed for second reading.
President of the Senate, Godswill Akpabio, interjected by asking Senator Zam the nitty-gritty of amendments he wanted the Senate to pass for second reading.
After Zam took his seat, Akpabio called on Senator Lalong, as Chairman of the Committee on Electoral Matters, to explain to the Senate, the nitty-gritty of amendments being sought for in the Act.
Akpabio said: “What is particularly important to me is what happened during the 2019 elections. I was unfairly treated, so we went to court. But what followed were multiple divisions, one after another.
“The legislation was clear, yet those who were supposed to uphold it acted otherwise. The returning officer, instead of being treated fairly, was turned into a scapegoat.
“The court had ordered the prosecution of the electoral commission, but instead of prosecuting the responsible officials, they went after the returning officer, a professor from the University of Calabar, who had served in the academics for 34 years. He was wrongly sentenced to three years in prison.
“They claimed the professor tried to assist Senator Akpabio. But if he was truly trying to assist him, why were my votes the ones affected? How did security agencies end up hijacking the result sheets to his office, which is against the Electoral Act?
“If the returning officer was really helping Senator Akpabio, how come he couldn’t manipulate the collation centre or the headquarters that handled the final results? Clearly, something went wrong, and justice was misplaced.
“Another issue is the election timeline. Campaigns run for eight months, and then there’s an additional three-month period before the polls. When politicians are later appointed as ministers, it affects the structure of governance.
“For instance, there are deadlines, six weeks or two months for international engagements, such as securing visas or other formalities.
“So, when you add all that time to the campaign and pre-election processes, it means a significant part of the four-year term is lost. Those meant to serve the nation effectively barely have time to make a real impact.
“These are the lessons we must draw. If we want to fix our electoral system, we must hold the right people accountable and ensure that INEC and other institutions do their jobs without bias or political manipulation.
“In a nutshell, the nitty-gritty of amendments being sought for in the 2022 Electoral Act for the proposed 2025 Electoral Act must be stated clearly before considering the bill for second reading.”.
Consequently, the Senate, as moved by its leader, Senator Bamidele, stood down consideration of the bill as seconded by the Minority Leader, Senator Moro.
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