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.
