The Nigerian Senate on Thursday confirmed Joash Amupitan as the new Chairman of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC).
Amupitan, a professor of Law, was confirmed by the upper chamber after his screening on Thursday.
His confirmation came after over two hours of questioning by senators, who pressed him on how he plans to restore credibility to Nigeria’s electoral process and implement meaningful reforms within the commission.
The 58-year-old university professor was nominated by President Bola Tinubu and received formal endorsement from the National Council of State last week.
With confirmation, Amupitan now becomes the sixth substantive Chairman of INEC, succeeding Mahmood Yakubu, who has officially concluded his tenure as the INEC boss.
The new INEC boss, who pushed for electoral reforms, saying that Nigeria deserves elections where the loser will congratulate the winner, added that he would examine the Electoral Act to strengthen the credibility of Nigerian elections.
According to him, there are inconsistencies in the timeline of elections in Nigeria, a situation he says can be improved.
He stated that credible elections would restore voters’ confidence.
“So, we’re going to see how an election is credible, so that the loser will come and congratulate the winner and say, ‘You won fairly and well’.
“So if we can do that, it’s just like a judge convicting a person, sentencing him to death, and he (convict) says, ‘Well done, because I believe I’ve gotten justice,’” Amupitan said.
