By Opeyemi Owoeye
Prof Joash Amupitan is the very first Chairman of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) who has had to conduct a major election within two weeks of assumption of office, having barely studied the handover notes. The closest any of his predecessors came to this was Prof Attahiru Jega who had nine months to prepare for his first electoral test.
INEC has proceeded to articulate its schedule of off-cycle elections in various states, including state and national assembly elections, and leading up to the governorship elections in Ekiti and Osun states. Amupitan’s INEC uploaded and publicised the results of the Anambra governorship poll real-time, timeously to make the point that electoral openness and transparency are feasible.
It is, however, curious that commentators ignore this when assessing the Amupitan-led INEC. It has been one attack after the other to a point where one can safely say no INEC chairman has been denied benefit of doubt like Prof. Amupitan.
Before the official announcement of his nomination as INEC Chairman, a media outlet flew the first kite suggesting partisanship because he allegedly had once represented a former lawmaker in court. The narrative did not fly as the lawmaker mentioned happened to be a prominent member of one of the major opposition political parties.
Shortly after his assumption of office, religious claims were pushed strongly with attendant threats that results from Amupitan-led INEC will not be acceptable to a section of the country due to alleged religious bias. The attacks died a natural death as such as never been a reason to remove any INEC chairman before Prof. Amupitan.
Next was the decision by the leadership of INEC to derecognize the national executive of an opposition political party in respect to a court injunction. That seems to be a fertile ground to renew calls for Prof. Amupitan’s sack or resignation. While that was still raging, another accusation surfaced over a purported social media account belonging to Prof. Amupitan suggesting he is partisan and will be an unfair electoral umpire.
Just like previous allegations, these also fell flat after the Supreme Court ruling on the political party leadership tussle and an extensive forensic investigation proved the alleged social media account had no links with the INEC Chairman.
While waiting for the next batch of allegations as they will almost likely come, it is pertinent to question the real motive of these accusations because the pedigree of Prof Amupitan does not suggest he is not competent to manage an electoral commission. No one has come up with any untoward claims about his stewardship as a lecturer, lawyer or a university administrator. Could it be that some persons creating a ground to discredit the 2027 general elections whether it is credible or not? Are there vested interests who feel uncomfortable with a man of integrity like Prof. Amupitan?
It is about time that Nigerians and all lovers of democracy begin to ask the right questions. We should be asking questions about INEC’s preparedness for upcoming elections, especially the off-cycle polls which are just months away. We should be querying funding, logistics issues, security, continuous voters’ registration, and other critical issues that will guarantee integrity of the ballot.
Amupitan should be given an opportunity to make a difference after his baptism of fire. He is one umpire who will yet earn the trust and confidence of an understandably skeptical polity.
