A day after his appointment as the new Chairman of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) was approved, Professor Joash Amupitan (SAN) has been at the center of a social media storm, prompting a strong rebuttal from a key legal figure in President Bola Tinubu’s administration.
In a statement released on Friday, Babatunde Ogala (SAN), the erstwhile Coordinator of the Tinubu Presidential Legal Team, categorically denied claims circulating online that Prof. Amupitan was ever a member of the legal team that represented President Tinubu.
The clarification comes just a day after a State House press release announced that the National Council of State had unanimously approved Amupitan’s nomination to succeed Professor Mahmood Yakubu, who served as INEC Chairman from 2015 until October 2025.
In his statement titled, “RE: FALSE CLAIMS LINKING THE NEWLY APPOINTED INEC CHAIRMAN, PROF. JOASH AMUPITAN (SAN) TO THE TINUBU PRESIDENTIAL LEGAL TEAM,” Ogala stated that he was compelled to speak out “in service to truth and public interest.”
“For the avoidance of doubt, Prof. Amupitan SAN was never, at any point, a member of the Tinubu Presidential Legal Team,” Ogala asserted. “His name does not appear among the over One Hundred and Twenty-three legal practitioners who were formally engaged for that assignment.”
Ogala, challenging purveyors of the claim, dared them to “produce verifiable evidence to the contrary” and suggested the public could apply for Certified True Copies of all legal processes to confirm his statement.
He urged citizens and media practitioners to reject “narratives that are baseless, divisive, unkind, uncharitable and capable of undermining public trust.”
This defence of the new INEC Chairman’s impartiality aligns with the profile presented in his appointment announcement. The State House release described the 58-year-old Professor of Law from Kogi State as “apolitical,” a sentiment echoed by Governor Ahmed Usman Ododo, who described him as “a man of integrity.”
Amupitan, a renowned academic and author specializing in Company Law and Evidence, is currently the Deputy Vice-Chancellor (Administration) at the University of Jos. His name will now be sent to the Senate for screening, in compliance with the constitution.
