The Inter-Party Advisory Council in Lagos has congratulated Joash Amupitan on his appointment as chairman of the Independent National Electoral Commission.

Abiola Adeyemi, IPAC secretary and Lagos chairperson of the Action People’s Party, congratulated Mr Amupitan while speaking on Friday in Lagos.

She urged the new INEC chairman to use the opportunity of his appointment and time to enhance the integrity of elections and build confidence in the electoral system.

According to her, Nigerians are disenchanted with the  electoral process, hence the recurrent voter apathy during elections.

Ms Adeyemi said, “We expect the newly appointed INEC chairman, Prof. Joash Amupitan, to champion and strengthen electoral reforms. Let the process be transparent and let election results reflect the will of the people. The biggest task before him is the restoration of public confidence in the electoral process, because this is long gone.

“We expect Amupitan to implement radical transparency and ensure legal backing for the electronic transmission of election results from the polling units without glitches, to enhance election credibility.”

The IPAC scribe also advised the new INEC boss to leverage innovations, like the Bimodal Voter Accreditation System and others, to eliminate all manipulative tendencies in elections.

“He (Amupitan) should ensure that INEC is shielded from  partisan pressure and political interference. This is very vital to restore confidence. Nigerians expect Prof. Amupitan to deliver credible, transparent, and fair elections, birthing  an  era of accountability and fairness in Nigeria’s democratic evolution,” Ms Adeyemi said.

She said that the electoral reforms that would make Nigerians aspire, contest, and vote without intimidation were  needed to bring back public confidence.

Ms Adeyemi urged the new INEC helmsman to find a way of addressing the nagging  problem of vote buying and selling during elections.

President Bola Tinubu on Thursday appointed Mr Amupitan, a professor of law and senior advocate of Nigeria, as the new chairman of INEC.

Mr Amupitan’s appointment was ratified by the National Council of State.

 His appointment followed the tenure expiration of Mahmood Yakubu, who had  led the nation’s electoral body for a statutory two-term tenure of five years each since November 2015.

(NAN)