•Prof Chidi Odinkalu and Prof Joash Amupitan
A former chairman of the National Human Rights Commission (NHRC), Chidi Odinkalu, has described the new Chairman of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), Joash Amupitan, as a man of integrity.
He, however, said that integrity could be tarnished by what he called “multiple principalities” at INEC.
Odinkalu explained that managing INEC was a different kettle of fish due to the divergent interests, including those of politicians, many of whom “own” workers at the commission.
“But when I said that INEC is a place dominated by multiple principalities, that’s exactly the point I was trying to make,” he said on Channels Television last night.
“There is no senior politician, from the presidency to state governors, who does not have a plant in INEC.
“I will tell him that I’m not a very, I’m not a spectacularly churchous person, but I’ll tell him that because he is the person, I’ll be praying for him,” he added.
Anambra Gov Poll
The former NHRC chairman advised Amupitan to decide what his priorities are and how he plans to measure progress.
According to him, Nigerians are watching to see how the new INEC chairman will manage the November 8 Anambra State governorship election, as his first test.
Odinkalu stated, “If I were to make a suggestion to the new INEC chairperson, quite clearly he cannot fix everything in one day, with the time he’s got at his disposal and given the damage that Mahmood Yakubu did to INEC, it seems to me he’s got to decide what his priorities have got to be and how he’s going to matriculate progress.
“And his first election, quite obviously, is the Anambra State governorship election, and he’s got barely two weeks to address that.
“And people are not going to be giving him any free passes.
“He’s not going to have a break, it seems to me, and so people are going to see how he addresses Anambra State and then use that as a basis going towards Ekiti State and then Osun State before, of course, we go to the 2027 elections.”
According to him, the outcome of the Anambra, Ekiti, and Osun governorship polls would give Nigerians a hint at what the 2027 general elections would look like.
“So it seems to me he’s got a few laboratories, electoral laboratories in which to test his ideas, and on the basis of which Nigerians are going to have a foretaste of what 2027 is going to be like.
“So I’ll start by suggesting that those laboratories in Anambra governorship, Ekiti governorship, and Osun governorship [elections] should provide us with a basis that is informed on the basis of which to then begin to assess what will happen in the 2027 elections,” the professor added.
Man Of Integrity
Earlier, Odinkalu said that Amupitan, whom he had known from Law school, was a man who would not conduct an election that produces controversial results.
“I know Joash; we were at Law school together, and we were admitted into the Nigerian Bar on the same day. He is what he said he is.
“Joash is a person of basic decency and integrity. My hope is that when his tenure eventually comes to an end, he will leave INEC as the same Joash whom I have known for the past 37, 38 years.
“Joash will not administer an election, like in Edo State, where there are four results,” he said.
Amupitan was sworn in by President Bola Tinubu as the Chairman of INEC on Thursday, a week after the Senate confirmed his appointment following a screening session on October 16.
President Tinubu charged the professor of Law to protect the integrity of Nigeria’s elections and electoral process as well as strengthen the institutional capacity of INEC.
Upon resumption, the new INEC chairman promised to defend Nigeria’s electoral laws and uphold the Constitution.
“As you are aware, I have just taken the oath of allegiance and also the oath as Chairman of the Independent National Electoral Commission.
“I reaffirm that I will defend the Constitution and the laws of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, as far as they relate to the electoral system,” he told journalists.
