The New Nigeria People’s Party (NNPP) has declared its full support for President Bola Tinubu’s nomination of Professor Amupitan as the new Chairman of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC).
Comrade Sunday Oginni, Secretary General of the NNPP, voiced this endorsement while reacting to the approval of Amupitan’s nomination by the National Council of State. The appointment is pending confirmation by the National Assembly, following the expected exit of Prof. Mahmoud Yakubu.
Oginni noted that while the appointment of an INEC chairman in Nigeria often sparks controversy, the nomination of Amupitan is a welcome development. According to him, the incoming chairman has his work cut out and must hit the ground running once confirmed.
He stressed that the immediate task before Amupitan is to restore public trust in INEC, which he said has suffered from years of systemic corruption and erosion of credibility. Oginni urged Amupitan to study the institution thoroughly, address pending issues ignored by the former chairman, and make bold recommendations to the President on reforms within the commission, including personnel decisions necessary to restore institutional sanity.
He added that the President and members of the Federal Executive Council must have seen Amupitan’s competence and integrity before making the nomination, affirming that this could signal the President’s resolve to correct longstanding failures in Nigeria’s electoral system.
According to Oginni, Nigeria urgently needs leaders who are capable of taking informed, courageous decisions to reengineer the nation. He cited NNPP’s own experience with INEC during its internal leadership crisis as a glaring example of the commission’s institutional decay. He described the previous leadership’s refusal to obey court orders instructing the upload of NNPP’s new national executives as “a shocker and a shame to constitutional democracy”.
He questioned why Yakubu failed to act on binding court decisions and called for a full review of such cases. Oginni averred that this lack of compliance seriously undermines public confidence in INEC. He further alleged that some officials within the commission fraudulently altered the NNPP’s party logo and colours without consulting or obtaining approval from the party’s founding members or the holder of its original certificate of registration.
“This simply means that anyone can walk into INEC and alter the identities of parties like APC, PDP, or Labour without due process. The implications are grave,” he said.
He condemned what he described as INEC’s reckless disregard for rule of law, noting that the commission has repeatedly disrespected internal party democracy and court judgments. In his words: “How can INEC be dealing with expelled party members and even conniving with them to replace our party’s symbol with the insignia of the Kwankwasiya movement, led by Senator Rabiu Musa Kwankwaso? This is not only fraudulent and corrupt, but a total abuse of power”.
Oginni expressed hope that Amupitan would not follow in the footsteps of past chairmen but instead choose to write his name in gold. He called on the acting chairman to urgently resolve outstanding issues before assuming office fully, including clearing all instances of judicial disobedience.
The NNPP, he concluded, stands ready to support President Tinubu and the incoming INEC leadership to ensure that the commission regains its integrity and delivers on its constitutional responsibilities without fear or favour.
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