Professor Joash Ojo Amupitan (SAN) of the North-Central has been nominated by the National Council of State to be the new Chairman of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC).
After Professor Mahmood Yakubu resigned, President Bola Ahmed Tinubu announced Amupitan as the candidate to take up the post.
Keep in mind that Yakubu was in office from 2015 till October 2025.
According to reports, Bayo Onanuga, Tinubu’s Special Adviser on Information and Strategy, revealed this in a statement on Thursday.
The statement claims that President Tinubu informed the council that Amupitan is the first apolitical candidate from Kogi, North-Central state, to be nominated for the role.
Governor Ahmed Usman Ododo praised Amupitan as a man of integrity, and the council members unanimously endorsed the nomination.
President Tinubu will now forward Amupitan’s name to the Senate for review in accordance with the constitution.
Amupitan, a 58-year-old law professor at the University of Jos, Plateau, hails from Ayetoro Gbede, Ijumu LGA in Kogi State. He graduated from the institution as well.
His areas of expertise include corporate governance, privatization law, law of evidence, and company law. In September 2014, he was appointed a Senior Advocate of Nigeria.
The birthdate of Amupitan is April 25, 1967.
Following his completion of elementary and high school, he went to the University of Jos from 1984 to 1987 and Kwara State Polytechnic in Ilorin from 1982 to 1984. In 1988, he was admitted to the bar.
His academic career began in 1989 after he completed his National Youth Service in the Bauchi State Publishing Corporation in Bauchi from 1988 to 1989. He obtained an LLM at UNIJOS in 1993 and a PhD in 2007.
He is currently the Pro-Chancellor and Chairman of the Governing Council of Joseph Ayo Babalola University in Osun State, as well as the Deputy Vice-Chancellor (Administration) at the University of Jos.
He has served in a number of academic capacities at UNIJOS, including Head of Public Law (2006-2008), Dean of the Faculty of Law (2008-2014), and Chairman of the Committee of Deans and Directors (2012-2014).
In addition to his academic responsibilities, Amupitan is a member of the Nigerian Institute of Advanced Legal Studies Governing Council, a board member of Integrated Dairies Limited in Vom, and a member of the Council of Legal Education (2008-2014). From 1996 to 2004, he served on the board of Riss Oil Limited in Abuja.
Amupitan is the author of numerous legal volumes, including Principles of Company Law (2013), Documentary Evidence in Nigeria (2008), Corporate Governance: Models and Principles (2008), and an Introduction to the Law of Trust in Nigeria (2014).
