Professor Joash Ojo Amupitan, the nominee for Chairman of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), has arrived at the National Assembly for his screening by the Senate.
Amupitan was received at the office of the Special Adviser to President Bola Tinubu on Senate Matters, Senator Basheer Lado, who is expected to usher him into the Hallowed Chamber for the commencement of the screening exercise shortly.
President Tinubu had, on October 9, nominated the 58-year-old law scholar from Kogi State as the new INEC Chairman following the resignation of Professor Mahmood Yakubu. The nomination was unanimously approved by the National Council of State, making Amupitan the first person from Nigeria’s North-Central region to head the electoral body.
Subsequently, on Tuesday, October 14, President Tinubu transmitted a letter to the Senate seeking confirmation of Amupitan’s appointment as substantive INEC Chairman. The letter, read by Senate President Godswill Akpabio during plenary, urged lawmakers to give the nomination “expeditious consideration” in line with Section 154(1) of the 1999 Constitution.
The Senate had scheduled Amupitan’s screening for today, Thursday, October 16, at the Senate Chamber in Abuja.
