REJOINDER: Setting the Records Straight on Prof. Joash Amupitan’s Appointment as INEC Chairman

                                                                                                                      Political  Panorama Issue No 28   

In our earlier article titled “When the Referee Wears the Team’s Jersey: Why the Appointment of Prof. Joash Ojo Amupitan as INEC Chairman is a Dangerous Error,” we raised a number of legitimate questions regarding the propriety and implications of Prof. Amupitan’s appointment as the new chairman of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC).

That piece reflected widespread public apprehension at the time, especially following unverified claims that Prof. Amupitan had served as a member and a lead counsel of President Bola Tinubu’s legal team during the 2023 Presidential Election Petition Tribunal.

However, subsequent verifications and official clarifications, including statements from Mr. Babatunde Ogala, SAN, coordinator of the Tinubu Presidential Legal Team, as well as fact-checks by multiple reputable national outlets such as ThisDay, The Nation, The Cable, and Tell.ng  have confirmed that Prof. Joash Ojo Amupitan was not part of the said legal team.

In light of this discovery, it is only fair and professional to acknowledge that the earlier information linking him to the tribunal legal team was inaccurate and unsubstantiated. We, therefore, retract that particular reference and extend this clarification in the spirit of journalistic integrity and public accountability.

That said, this clarification does not, in any way, invalidate the other core issues earlier raised concerning the integrity of his credentials, the opacity of his professional trajectory, and the constitutional question of non-partisanship required for the head of Nigeria’s electoral umpire.

The grey areas in Prof. Amupitan’s educational and professional records as released by the State House remain unresolved. There are still no verifiable public details of the following:

1.The missing gap in the years (1984 to 1997) he attended and obtained his LL.B degree at the University of Jos.  

2.His institutional leadership at the same University of Jos vis-à-vis his Ph.D. degree; and

3.His record of non-partisanship and civic neutrality, as demanded by Section 154(3) of the 1999 Constitution (as amended) and Paragraph 14(2)(a) of the Third Schedule.

Until these questions are transparently answered, Prof. Amupitan’s nomination continues to raise legitimate concerns about the fitness, credibility, and moral foundation of this critical appointment. The clarification that he did not serve on Tinubu’s legal team corrects an important detail, but it does not confer legitimacy on a process still shadowed by opacity.

In a democracy, perception is as important as fact. For the electoral umpire to command the trust of Nigerians, the referee must not only be fair, he must be seen to be fair.

We, therefore, call on the Presidency to make public, without delay, all relevant educational and professional records of Prof. Amupitan, so that Nigerians may judge for themselves the credibility of the man now positioned to preside over the nation’s next general election.

Failing such transparency, the appointment remains in both spirit and consequence a grave misjudgment.

                                                                     Until next week, this is Political Panorama with Ola Olateju - Voice of the Coalition. Voice of the People.

- watching the horizon, one controversy at a time

                                                                                                             www.politicalpnorama.com.ng