INEC Chairman Amupitan Honoured For Dedication At Law Teachers' Conference, As He Promised Reform , Free , Fair And Credible Electoral Process

The Chairman of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), Prof. Joash Ojo Amupitan, was honoured with a plaque for his "dedication, hard work, and inspiration to many" by the Federal University of Lokoja, during the 56th Annual National Conference of the Nigerian Association of Law Teachers (NALT).

The award highlighted a speech in which Prof. Amupitan pledged to collaborate with the National Assembly to deliver a “credible, fair, and free” electoral process for Nigeria.

Already under President Bola Ahmed Tinubu who has been vilifying Nigerians through his ant people's policies and programs, destabilizing the opposition political parties and silencing opposing views and critics, 2027 general election under his appointee Ojo Amupitan is on the watch for any credibility. Only time will tell.

Amupitan, addressing the conference, which he described as a “momentous occasion,” the INEC Chairman reflected on the foundational role of law in society. “Law is not merely a set of rules but a foundation upon which societies build their progress,” he stated, emphasizing that the electoral process is fundamentally driven by legal frameworks.

According to the INEC release, with the Electoral Act currently under amendment, Prof. Amupitan committed to active participation in the legislative process. “I will start waiting to participate in the National Assembly to be sure that we have a learning electoral process and laws that you and I and Nigerians should be proud of,” he said.

A key goal of this reform, he noted, is to reduce electoral litigations. “Let us not see electoral petitions in court,” Amupitan urged, stressing the aim to establish a fair process that inspires public confidence.

The presentation of the plaque from the Federal University of Lokoja served as a recognition of his ongoing contributions to public service and legal education, concluding an address where he also called for the support of the academic community in strengthening Nigeria's democracy.

Nigerians should not be carried away by political comments and promises but must rise up demand leadership accountable, ensure free , fair and credible elections in the country.

Source: INEC 

POINT-BLANK: NEW INEC CHAIRMAN PROF. AMUPITAN — A REDEEMER OR ANOTHER HOPE BETRAYED, TIME WILL TELL - LABOUR PARTY

By Prince Tony Akeni



"Labour Party, in particular, will forever remember Prof. Mahmood Yakubu's pretentious cooperation in matters of justice in political parties' internal leadership affairs. While pretending to follow due process in enabling Labour Party to resolve its Julius Abure led tenure rebellion, Prof. Yakubu Mahmood in another hand, in unashamed treachery, actually connived to betray justice for the party to the last minute of his exit. Prof Mahmood deliberately retained the name of the Supreme Court sacked Abure on INEC website as the party's national chairman, clinically sabotaged the Labour Party from participating in crucial elections throughout the country by unlawfully delisting the party from fielding candidates in the 2025 local government elections of various states, the Abuja municipal council elections coming up in 2026 and all other tiers of election across the country to the end of his tenure...

"As many Nigerians who are not yet under the collective hypnotism of APC's baptism of delusion *WILL ASK* , what rationale, except the opium of corruption harvest, made Prof. Yakubu Mahmood to retain on INEC's portal the defunct Julius Abure led leadership of Labour Party in spite of having the certified judgment of the Supreme Court and its corroborating interpretation of the Abuja Federal High Court, both of which unequivocally ruled that the Julius Abure leadership of the Labour Party had irreversibly ended?


"That is the Prof. Yakubu Mahmood the Labour Party and 230million Nigerians remember, and history centuries away will also remember and wrinkle their noses at his final resting place."

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Prof. Joash Ojo Amupitan has a fate larger than life thrust at his feet. To either redeem the largest democracy in Africa or further mutilate and bury its corpse which the ballot master-liar of all time, Prof. Yakubu Mahmood, has left behind as INEC chairman.

Above the pecks, glamour and glitter of the highly visible office which Prof. Amupitan now occupies, he must choose what he wishes to achieve and be remembered for.

He must choose who he will serve and the legacy he wishes to leave behind for his name and posterity.

He must choose whether to be honoured by more than 230million Nigerians who employed President Bola Ahmed Tinubu or to serve the unconstitutional wishes and caprices of a single man, Tinubu, who appointed him.


To help him make that choice, Prof. Amupitan will do well to reflect how more than 230million Nigerians at home and all over the world will forever remember his immediate predecessor, Prof. Yakubu Mahmood.


Under the Obasanjo years, when Nigerians' thought Prof. Maurice Iwu, the INEC chairman at the time, was the worst electoral referee that happened to Nigeria, Prof. Attahiru Jega happened to Nigeria and erased that record. This was to the extent that one Elder Godsday Orubebe, who was the Minister of Niger Delta in the Jonathan administration of the time, screamed blue murder and embarked on a one-man rampage against INEC at the 2015 presidential election collation centre in front of the world press and international election observers.


At the close of that era when Nigerians' thought that it was impossible to manufacture a worse election overseer than Jega, Prof. Yakubu Mahmood came to mortally mar the mood and seal the hopes of Nigerians that elections could ever be free, fair or credible in our country, destroying the last vestige of Nigeria's electoral integrity almost to the point of no redemption.


Before Mahmood's tenures as INEC chairman, Nigerians merely lamented if their votes would count but with some reservoir of hope. However, Prof. Yakubu Mahmood buried that hope and made it a proverb of despair set in concrete, creating an endemic voter apathy throughout Nigeria that has no comparison in any other country in Africa and almost the whole world.


In the run-up to the epic 2023 general elections, Prof. Yakubu Mahmood promised Nigerians and the world in countless media briefings that ballot results would be transmitted in real-time from the polling units and entered from BIVAS records to the IREV servers for global integrity.


Mahmood promised this would be a process that shall not be compromised, violated or accepted by INEC, only to brazenly take the opposite stand against his sworn process by dismissing BIVAS results as non-compulsory in the collation of election results. He and his returning electoral commissioners across the country then uploaded insanely mutilated and duplicated result sheets supplied by the ruling party to announce the 2023 results, stood by those mutilations at the post-election tribunals, and returned the snatch-and-run-with-it concoctions of the presidential election, numerous governorship and countless National and State Assembly results as winners against the actual landslide presidential victory of the Labour Party and similar victory by other opposition political parties at different tiers of the polls.


As his last achievement for the ruling APC, at the end of which President Tinubu gave him a parting send-off with the national award of Commander of the Order of the Niger, Prof. Yakubu Mahmood also successfully pulled off a historic pre-election heist to make rigging easier for the ruling party in 2027 by manufacturing out-of-the-world phantom records of new voters registration in President Tinubu's home state of Osun.


Mahmood awarded a record 393,269 new voters in Osun state alone against just 1,998 new voters in the entire five South-East states combined. Nearly half a million new voters in the single state of Osun which has a population of 4.6million citizens, and less than 2,000 new voters in all the five states of Abia, Anambra, Ebonyi, Enugu and Imo which command over 36million citizens!


Labour Party, in particular, will forever remember Prof. Mahmood Yakubu's pretentious cooperation in matters of justice in political parties' internal leadership affairs. While pretending to follow due process in enabling Labour Party to resolve its Julius Abure led tenure rebellion, Prof. Yakubu Mahmood in another hand, in unashamed treachery, actually connived to betray justice for the party to the last minute of his exit. Prof Mahmood deliberately retained the name of the Supreme Court sacked Abure on INEC website as the party's national chairman, clinically sabotaged the Labour Party from participating in crucial elections throughout the country by unlawfully delisting the party from fielding candidates in the 2025 local government elections of various states, the Abuja municipal council elections coming up in 2026 and all other tiers of election across the country to the end of his tenure. Mission accomplished, national award received, evil done and dusted, APC's 2027 victory guaranteed! So they think.


As many Nigerians who are not yet under the collective hypnotism of APC's baptism of delusion, what rationale, except the opium of corruption harvest, made Prof. Yakubu Mahmood to retain on INEC's portal the defunct Julius Abure led leadership of Labour Party in spite of having the certified judgment of the Supreme Court and its corroborating interpretation of the Abuja Federal High Court, both of which unequivocally ruled that the Julius Abure leadership of the Labour Party had irreversibly ended?


That is the Prof. Yakubu Mahmood the Labour Party and 230million Nigerians remember, and history centuries away will also remember and wrinkle their noses at his final resting place.


For the Labour Party, the first all-important litmus test that the new INEC chairman, Prof. Joash Ojo Amupitan, will pass to prove that he has come to serve Nigeria in ernest of his oath of office is to remove the last dust and trace of Julius Abure and his defunct council members from INEC's portal and replace them with the Nenadi Usman led council which the statutory NEC of the party has submitted as its executive council. This will be in accord with the Supreme Court's judgment that the leadership of political parties is strictly the result of the internal decision and processes of parties. This also complies with both Nigeria's and global conventions which forbid leadership vacuum in the management of public institutions.


As Prof. Joash Amupitan steps into the shoes of his departed predecessor, he must realize that he is not only on the radar of Nigerians but the entire civilize world, the West and emerging democracies of the world which look unto Nigeria for good or bad examples.



Amupitan must prove to the world that he is not another election puppet out to serve the dictates of incumbents and ballot vampires for his personal enrichment at the expense of Nigeria's international image, global respect, progress and advancement, like most of his predecessors, but a true electoral umpire out to serve and save our country's long troubled democracy.



What shall it profit a man if he gains the whole world and loses his soul? Nothing but eternal condemnation. Both the Holy Bible and the Holy Quran agree on this at Mark 8:36 and Q57:20 respectively.



Joash Amupitan, get off the gory road of power vapour and walk the glory road of eternity's favour.




Prince Tony Akeni,

Labour Party National

Publicity Secretary (Interim)

FACT CHECK: Newly INEC Chair, Prof Joash Amupitan was a member of the legal team of Bola Tinubu & the APC in the presidential election petition of 2023

 FACT CHECK : Was Prof. Joash Amupitan a member of the legal team of Bola Tinubu and the APC in the presidential election petition of 2023?

Yes, Prof. Joash Ojo Amupitan, SAN—a distinguished Nigerian legal scholar, professor of law at the University of Jos, and Senior Advocate of Nigeria—was part of the legal team representing President Bola Ahmed Tinubu and the All Progressives Congress (APC) in the 2023 presidential election petition tribunal. The tribunal, presided over by the Presidential Election Petition Court (PEPC), heard challenges to Tinubu’s victory in the February 2023 general elections, primarily from the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) led by Atiku Abubakar and the Labour Party (LP) led by Peter Obi.

Key Details of His Role

 

Amupitan 

• Position on the Team: Amupitan served as lead counsel for the APC and Tinubu during the proceedings. This role involved defending the election’s integrity against allegations of irregularities, non-compliance with electoral laws (e.g., the Electronic Transmission of Results or IReV system), voter suppression, and Tinubu’s eligibility under Section 137 of the 1999 Constitution.

 • Context of the Case: The APC’s defense, coordinated under lead counsel Chief Wole Olanipekun, SAN, argued that the petitioners failed to substantiate claims of widespread malpractice. Amupitan contributed to this strategy, focusing on legal precedents in electoral law, evidence admissibility, and procedural dismissals. The tribunal ultimately dismissed the petitions on September 6, 2023, upholding Tinubu’s victory in a unanimous 4-0 decision (with one justice recusing).

 • Team Composition: The APC assembled a formidable team of over 50 Senior Advocates, including Olanipekun, Lateef Fagbemi (SAN, now Attorney-General), and others like Gordy Uche (SAN) and Adeniyi Akintola (SAN). Amupitan’s expertise in corporate governance, evidence law, and electoral reforms aligned with the defense’s emphasis on dismissing petitions for lack of merit.

Evidence and Sources

This involvement has been corroborated in multiple reports, particularly amid recent scrutiny following Tinubu’s nomination of Amupitan as INEC Chairman in October 2025. Civil society groups, such as the Coalition of Civil Society Organizations in Nigeria (COCSON), highlighted his prior role as a potential conflict of interest, urging rejection of the nomination to preserve INEC’s neutrality. For instance:

 • COCSON explicitly noted Amupitan’s service as “lead counsel to the APC and President Tinubu during the 2023 Presidential Election Petition Tribunal,” arguing it could erode public trust in electoral impartiality.

Broader Implications

Amupitan’s participation underscores his deep engagement in high-stakes electoral litigation, drawing from his over 30 years of legal practice since being called to the Bar in 1988. However, his 2025 INEC nomination—approved by the Council of State on October 9, 2025, and pending Senate confirmation—has reignited debates on partisanship in public appointments. Tinubu described him as “apolitical and a man of integrity,” but critics point to this history as evidence of alignment with the APC.

This confirmation is based on contemporaneous 2023 reports and recent 2025 analyses of his career trajectory.

2027: "National Council of State Confirms President Tinubu's Nomination, Professor Joash Ojo Amupitan, SAN As New INEC National Chairman

COMPLAINT FROM LABOUR PARTY (LP) TO THE NEW INEC NATIONAL CHAIRMAN, PROF AMUPITAN

Amupitan

1. The National Council of State has approved the nomination of Professor Joash Ojo Amupitan (SAN) from the North-Central Geo-Political Zone of Nigeria as the new National Chairman of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC).

2. President Bola Ahmed Tinubu, GCFR presented Amupitan as the nominee to fill the vacant position, following Professor Mahmood Yakubu's exit. Yakubu served from 2015 till October 2025.

3. President Tinubu told the council that Amupitan is the first person from Kogi, North - Central Geo-Political Zone, nominated to occupy the position and he is apolitical. 

4. The Council members unanimously supported the nomination, while Governor Ahmed Usman Ododo of Kogi State described  Amupitan as a man of integrity. 

5. In compliance with the constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria 1999 as amended, President Tinubu will now send Amupitan’s name to the Senate for screening and confirmation.

6. Amupitan, who was born on April 25, 1967 is 58 years old and hails from Ayetoro Gbede, Ijumu LGA  in Kogi State. After completing primary and secondary education, he attended Kwara State Polytechnic, Ilorin, from 1982 to 1984, and the University of Jos from 1984 to 1987. He was called to the bar in 1988.

7. Amupitan is a Professor of Law at the University of Jos, Plateau State. He is also an alumnus of the university. He specialises in Company Law, Law of Evidence, Corporate Governance and Privatisation Law. He became a Senior Advocate of Nigeria in September 2014.

8. He earned an LLM at UNIJOS in 1993 and a PhD in 2007, amid an academic career that began in 1989, following his National Youth Service at the Bauchi State Publishing Corporation in Bauchi from 1988 to 1989.

9. Currently, he serves as the Deputy Vice-Chancellor (Administration) at the University of Jos, a position he holds in conjunction with being the Pro-Chancellor and Chairman of the Governing Council of Joseph Ayo Babalola University in Osun State.

10. Among the academic positions he has held at UNIJOS are: Chairman of the Committee of Deans and Directors (2012-2014); Dean of the Faculty of Law (2008-2014); and Head of Public Law (2006-2008).

11. Outside of academics, Amupitan serves as a board member of Integrated Dairies Limited in Vom, a member of the Nigerian Institute of Advanced Legal Studies Governing Council, and a member of the Council of Legal Education (2008-2014), among other roles. He was a board member of Riss Oil Limited, Abuja(1996-2004).

12. Amupitan is the author of many books on law, such as Corporate Governance: Models and Principles(2008); Documentary Evidence in Nigeria (2008); Evidence Law: Theory and Practice in Nigeria(2013), Principles of Company Law(2013)  and an Introduction to the Law of Trust in Nigeria (2014).

13. He is married and has four children.

Bayo Onanuga

Special Adviser to the President

(Information and Strategy)"

Thursday 9th October, 2025

*COMPLAINT FROM LABOUR PARTY (LP) TO THE NEW INEC NATIONAL CHAIRMAN, PROF AMUPITAN*

1. It is hoped that professor Amupitan's arrival shall herald the much needed transparency and integrity with accountability in the Nation's electoral processes to engender free, fair and credible elections especially in 2027 were every vote is expected to count.

2. Permit me to bring to the attention of the new INEC national chairman, the case of Labour Party (LP) pending INEC's uploading in its portal the names of Senator Nenadi Usman as National Chairman and Senator Darlington Nwokocha as National Secretary.

3. The pending removal of the names of Julius Abure and Umar Farouk Ibrahim from the INEC portal put their by a court order after the 8th October 2024 FCT High Court Judgement now voided, is long overdue, and owing to the fact that the Supreme Court in its landmark judgement on 4th April 2025 was meritorious in favour of the Appellants: Senator Nenadi Usman and Senator Darlington.

4. Suffice it to say that the Supreme Court Judgement of 4th April 2025 sacked Julius Abure and Umar Farouk Ibrahim as National Chairman and Secretary and dismissed the FCT High Court Judgement of 8th October 2024 and Appeal Court Judgement of 17th January 2025 that recognized Julius Abure as National Chairman for lack of Jurisdiction and sequel to the expiration of their tenure on 8th June 2024.

5. Furthermore, the Federal High Court Judgement of 15th August 2025 affirmed the INEC's Counter Affidavit Suit that voided the illegal and unlawful national convention "gathering" which took place in Nnewi Anambra State on 27th March 2024 conducted by Julius Abure and his co-conspirators.

6. The premise for the nullification of their purported national convention was predicated on the non conduct of Congresses and Delegates Election in violation of the provisions of the party's constitution 2019 as amended and the constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria 1999 as amended and the electoral Act 2002. 

CONGRATULATIONS Professor Joash Ojo Amupitan,