IPAC to Amupitan: Restore faith in Nigeria’s elections

By Adeyemi Adeleye

The Inter-Party Advisory Council (IPAC) in Lagos State has congratulated Prof. Joash Amupitan on his nomination as Chairman of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC).

Mrs Abiola Adeyemi, IPAC Secretary and Lagos State Chairperson of the Action People’s Party (APP), congratulated Amupitan while speaking with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) on Friday in Lagos.

She urged the new INEC chairman to use the opportunity of his appointment and time to enhance integrity of elections and build confidence in the electoral system.

According to her, Nigerians are disenchanted with the electoral process, hence the recurrent voter apathy during elections.

Adeyemi said: “We expect the newly appointed INEC Chairman, Prof. Joash Amupitan champion and strengthen electoral reforms .Let the process be transparent and let election results reflect the will of the people.

“The biggest task before him is the restoration of public confidence in the electoral process, because this is long gone.

“We expect Amupitan to implement radical transparency and ensure legal backing for electronic transmission of election results from the polling units without glitches, to enhance election credibility.”

The IPAC scribe also advised the new INEC boss to leverage innovations, like the Bimodal Voter Accreditation System (BVAS) and others ,to eliminate all manipulative tendencies in elections.

“He (Amupitan) should ensure that INEC’s is shielded from partisan pressure and political interferences. This is very vital to restore confidence.

“Nigerians expect Prof. Amupitan to deliver credible, transparent, and fair elections, birthing an era of accountability and fairness in Nigeria’s democratic evolution,” Adeyemi said.

She said that the electoral reforms that would made make Nigerians aspire, contest and votes without intimidation were needed to bring back public confidence.

Adeyemi urged him  to find a way of addressing the nagging problem of vote buying and selling during elections.

NAN recalls that President Bola Tinubu on Thursday appointed Amupitan, a professor of Law and Senior Advocate of Nigeria, as the new chairman of INEC.

Amupitan’s appointment has also been ratified by the National Council of State.

His appointment followed the tenure expiration of Prof. Mahmood Yakubu, who had led the nation’s electoral body for statutory two-term tenure of five years each since November 2015.

(NAN)