The Senate will today (Thursday) screen Professor Joash Ojo Amupitan (SAN) for confirmation as the new Chairman of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC).

The screening follows a letter from President Bola Tinubu urging the upper chamber to expedite the confirmation process in line with Section 154(1) of the 1999 Constitution (as amended).

The announcement was contained in a circular issued on Wednesday by the Senate’s Director of Information, Bullah Audu Bi-Allah, and made available to journalists in Abuja.

According to the circular, the screening exercise will take place at the Senate Chamber, National Assembly Complex, with members of the Senate Press Corps and television stations invited to provide full media coverage.

“The Senate will on Thursday, 16th October 2025, conduct the screening of Professor Joash Ojo Amupitan, the nominee of President Bola Tinubu for appointment as INEC Chairman,”
the circular stated.

Amupitan’s nomination was endorsed last week by the National Council of State, marking a major transition for the electoral body following the completion of Prof. Mahmood Yakubu’s decade-long tenure at the helm of INEC.

In his letter to the Senate, President Tinubu described Amupitan as a legal scholar of high integrity and urged lawmakers to give the appointment their “usual expeditious consideration.”

“I am pleased to present for confirmation by the Senate the appointment of Professor Joash Amupitan, Senior Advocate of Nigeria, as Chairman of the Independent National Electoral Commission,” the President wrote.

The nomination comes at a politically sensitive time, amid renewed debates over INEC’s independence and credibility following contentious post-election reviews.

While the Presidency has described Amupitan as “an apolitical figure of impeccable integrity,” opposition parties and civil society organisations have called on the Senate to ensure a transparent and rigorous confirmation process.

Today’s screening is expected to attract national attention, as it will serve as an early test of the Tinubu administration’s commitment to electoral reform ahead of the 2027 general elections.

Meanwhile, the Northern Nigeria Minorities Group (NNMG) has warned against attempts by individuals and interest groups to ethnicise Amupitan’s nomination.

In a strongly worded statement issued in Kaduna on Tuesday, the group’s Convener, Chief Jacob Edi, condemned what he described as “divisive commentaries and social media tirades” questioning the President’s choice of the Kogi-born scholar.

Edi noted that Amupitan, an indigene of the Okun ethnic group in Kogi State, represents one of the minority nationalities in northern Nigeria, adding that his nomination should be celebrated rather than politicised.

“We view with consternation the ongoing attempts by certain individuals and interest groups to ethnicise the nomination of Professor Joash Ojo Amupitan, SAN, as Chairman of INEC,”
Edi said.

“For the avoidance of doubt, Professor Amupitan is an Okun man from Kogi State, one of the minority ethnic nationalities in northern Nigeria. There are 19 states in the North, each richly diverse and unique, none superior to another by tribe, tongue, or faith.”

Edi expressed concern that some “self-styled northern voices” were portraying the appointment as an act of ethnic favouritism, describing such a narrative as “false, dangerous, and inimical to national unity.”

He further highlighted that Amupitan’s appointment marks the first time in 65 years—since the establishment of a statutory electoral commission in 1959—that someone from a northern minority group has been appointed to lead the nation’s electoral body.

“In all these decades, no northern minority group has ever questioned the decisions of successive Presidents to appoint individuals they felt comfortable working with, even when the North-West and North-East held the position consecutively for 15 years,”
he noted.

The NNMG maintained that the backlash against Amupitan’s appointment exposes a long-standing prejudice against northern minorities, adding that competence, integrity, and merit should remain the guiding principles in public appointments.

“This jejune narrative underscores our growing concern that some of our northern colleagues continue to perceive northern minorities merely as fillers of demography, unworthy of the privileges and recognition that come with our place in the federation,” the statement read.

“Such thinking is antiquated, divisive, and inimical to the spirit of modern governance.”

The group praised President Tinubu for recognising the diversity of the North and giving all constituent groups a sense of belonging through recent appointments.

Edi warned that attempts to polarise the country along ethnic or sectional lines would undermine democratic development.

“We urge political actors, commentators, and citizens alike to rise above petty identity politics and focus on building institutions that work, irrespective of who heads them,” he said.

“The time for ethnic arithmetic is over. The era of competence, fairness, and national responsibility must begin in earnest.”

He concluded by describing northern minorities as “the real majority” that continues to believe in the unity and progress of Nigeria, urging all Nigerians to support Amupitan as he prepares to lead INEC.

“Let competence and fairness, not ethnicity, define our national discourse. The success of Nigeria’s democracy depends on it,”
Edi added.