AMUPITAN AND THE TASK BEFORE INEC

The Senate on Thursday confirmed Professor Joash Amupitan as chairman of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC). A professor of law at the University of Jos and Senior Advocate of Nigeria (SAN), Amupitan succeeds Professor Mahmood Yakubu who served for two terms of ten years. “Our ultimate goal is to make elections so credible that even the loser will be able to congratulate the winner in good faith just as a judge delivers judgment and both sides accept it as fair and just,” Amupitan told the lawmakers while also promising to conduct an audit of the INEC results viewing (IReV) portal to address glitches that undermined public confidence during the 2023 general election.

While we congratulate Amupitan who comes to the job as the first professor with a background in law, it is fortuitous that the National Assembly is currently considering amendments to the Electoral Act (Repeal and Amendment) Bill 2025. We hope Amupitan will take advantage of the current exercise to dialogue with the lawmakers on how to address some of the legal constraints that hamper the work of the commission.

He highlighted some of them at his confirmation hearing where he also admitted working with the National Assembly in the past on the Electoral Act 2018 that was vetoed by the late President Muhammadu Buhari.

Meanwhile, one of the issues that the new INEC boss should consider taking up is the idea of holding all elections in the country on the same day. The existing arrangement of staggered elections is fraught with many drawbacks just as it is wasteful in terms of energy, time and money. Under the prevailing electoral system, it could sometimes take between three and four weeks to conduct the various elections (Presidential, National Assembly, Governorship and House of Assembly) during which all economic–and sometimes even academic–activities are usually grounded throughout the country.

Added to this is the fact that staggered elections do not necessarily guarantee free and fair polls as we have witnessed over the past 26 years of the current democratic dispensation.

We understand that the single major complaint against holding all elections in one day is that the ballot paper could be bulky in the case of Nigeria where there are many political parties taking part in any elections. The argument goes that the illiterate voters in the rural areas might get confused to the point that they would render their ballot papers invalid. Or that some may vote against their choices if given four different ballot papers at the same time. While there may be merit in this argument, we do not believe it is sufficient enough a reason not to try what has been perfected even in smaller West African countries where elections are usually held in one day with many parties competing.

There are also those who argue that since INEC still has difficulties in holding crisis-free elections under the existing staggered formula, there is no assurance that the electoral body would get it right if all elections are held in one day. That may be a legitimate concern. But in lending support to the single-day voting, we have weighed all the negatives that the extant staggered elections present against what the country stands to gain from the proposed one.

First and foremost, the current system is not cost effective as the country was almost always shut down for several days whenever elections were held in the past with all the attendant economic implications.

 is also the issue of voter fatigue as turnout of electorate usually declined after the first major poll. Furthermore, and perhaps more fundamental, is the notorious fact that once the presidential or governorship elections were held first and results declared, subsequent elections tended to reflect the so-called bandwagon effect.

Given the foregoing, we endorse single day voting because it will be less wasteful, while also stemming the manipulation often associated with staggered polls. It is therefore our hope that Amupitan will consider this proposal alongside other reform efforts to further the electoral development of the country.

We wish him success in his new assignment.