The National Council of State has approved the nomination of Professor Joash Ojo Amupitan, representing the North-Central region, as the new Chairman of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC).
A statement by the Special Adviser to the President on Information and Strategy, Bayo Onanuga, said that President Bola Tinubu presented Professor Amupitan as his nominee to fill the vacancy created by the exit of Professor Mahmood Yakubu, who served as INEC Chairman from 2015 until October 2025.
President Tinubu told the council that Amupitan is the first person from Kogi State, in the North-Central region, to be nominated for the position and described him as apolitical.
Council members unanimously supported the nomination, with Governor Ahmed Usman Odododo describing Amupitan as a man of integrity.
In compliance with the constitution, President Tinubu will now send Amupitan’s name to the Senate for screening.
His Profile
Fifty-eight-year-old Amupitan, from Ayetoro Gbede, Ijumu Local Government Area of Kogi State, is a Professor of Law at the University of Jos, Plateau State, and an alumnus of the same university.
He specialises in company law, Law of evidence, corporate governance, and Privatisation Law, and became a Senior Advocate of Nigeria (SAN) in September 2014.
Amupitan was born on April 25, 1967.
After completing his primary and secondary education, he attended Kwara State Polytechnic, Ilorin, from 1982 to 1984, and the University of Jos from 1984 to 1987. He was called to the Bar in 1988.
He earned an LL.M. at the University of Jos in 1993 and a PhD in 2007, during an academic career that began in 1989, following his National Youth Service at the Bauchi State Publishing Corporation, Bauchi, from 1988 to 1989.
He currently serves as the Deputy Vice-Chancellor (Administration) at the University of Jos, a position he holds alongside his role as Pro-Chancellor and Chairman of the Governing Council of Joseph Ayo Babalola University, Osun State.
Among the academic positions he has held at the University of Jos are: Chairman of the Committee of Deans and Directors (2012–2014), Dean of the Faculty of Law (2008–2014), and Head of the Department of Public Law (2006–2008).
Outside the academia, Amupitan serves as a board member of Integrated Dairies Limited, Vom; a member of the Governing Council of the Nigerian Institute of Advanced Legal Studies, and a member of the Council of Legal Education (2008–2014).
He was also a board member of Riss Oil Limited, Abuja, from 1996 to 2004.
Amupitan is the author of several books on law, including Corporate Governance: Models and Principles (2008); Documentary Evidence in Nigeria (2008); Evidence Law: Theory and Practice in Nigeria (2013); Principles of Company Law (2013); and An Introduction to the Law of Trust in Nigeria (2014).