"INEC Chairman Amupitan: Elections Should Be Determined by Voters, Not Courts"

Table of Contents

• Chairman’s Statement
• Conference Details
• Addressing Pre-Election Litigations
• Role of Political Parties
• Call to the National Assembly

The Chairman of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), Prof. Joash Amupitan, stated that the results of elections should no longer be decided by the courts.

The newly appointed INEC chairman emphasized that elections must be won at the polling units.

Amupitan made these remarks during the 56th Annual National Conference of the Nigerian Association of Law Teachers (NALT), which took place at the University of Abuja on Monday.

He expressed his commitment to addressing the increasing number of pre-election litigations that have long weighed down Nigeria’s electoral process.

Amupitan urged political parties to implement meaningful reforms.

He stated, “If political parties adhere to their constitutions, respect the Electoral Act, and comply with the Nigerian Constitution, the flood of pre-election cases will diminish.”

He stressed that his aim is to turn the law into “an instrument of change, not chaos.”

“My aspiration is that when we get the law right, even those who lose will be the first to congratulate the winner. That is when we can say our democracy has matured.”

Amupitan called on the National Assembly to enact stronger legislation that would enhance electoral laws and promote transparency.

“We cannot continue to allow the courts to decide our elections. Elections must be won at the polling units, not in the courtroom,” he asserted.