Senate Set to Screen Tinubu’s INEC Chair Nominee Amupitan Today
The Senate is scheduled to conduct a confirmation hearing today, Thursday, October 16, 2025, for Professor Joash Ojo Amupitan, President Bola Tinubu’s nominee for Chairman of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC).
A circular released on Wednesday by the Senate’s Director of Information, Bullah Audu Bi-Allah, informed media houses and the public of the screening.
The announcement comes a day after President Tinubu’s letter seeking expedited confirmation of Amupitan was read on the Senate floor by Senate President Godswill Akpabio.
According to the circular, the session will be held in the Senate Chamber at the National Assembly Complex, and the Senate Press Corps as well as television stations are invited for live coverage of the proceedings.
Amupitan’s nomination follows endorsement by the National Council of State. His appointment marks a transition at INEC after a decade of leadership under Prof. Mahmood Yakubu.
In his letter to the Senate, Tinubu cited Section 154(1) of the Constitution (as amended) and requested that the Senate give prompt consideration to the appointment.
The Presidency has described Amupitan as “an apolitical figure of impeccable integrity,” while opposition parties and civil society organizations are calling for thoroughness and transparency in the confirmation process.
Today’s screening is expected to attract nationwide attention, as it may set the tone for electoral reform and shape perceptions of the administration’s commitment to credible elections ahead of 2027.
Meanwhile, the Northern Nigeria Minorities Group (NNMG) has cautioned against the ethnicization of Amupitan’s nomination. In a statement issued from Kaduna, the group asserted that Amupitan hails from the Okun ethnic group in Kogi State, one of the minority nationalities in the North, and warned that framing his appointment in divisive terms threatens national unity.
The NNMG emphasized that this would be the first time in 65 years that a person from a northern minority group has been selected to lead Nigeria’s electoral commission.
It urged the public to judge the nominee by competence and integrity, not ethnic or regional identity.