Joash Ojo Amupitan: 10 things to know about new INEC Chairman

The National Council of State on Thursday approved the nomination of Professor Joash Ojo Amupitan (SAN) from the North-Central as the new Chairman of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC).

Prof. Amupitan is thus set to replace Professor Mahmood Yakubu who served from 2015 till October 2025, after President Bola Tinubu presented the former as the nominee to fill the vacant position.

With Amupitan a relatively unknown name to the Nigerian public, The Guardian, hereby, presents 10 things to know about the new INEC Chairman.

1. Amupitan is the first person from Kogi, North-Central state, nominated to occupy the position of INEC Chairman.

2. He was born on April 25, 1967. He is 58-years-old and from Ayetoro Gbede, Ijumu Local Government Area (LGA) in Kogi State.

3. After completing primary and secondary education, he attended Kwara State Polytechnic, Ilorin, from 1982 to 1984, and the University of Jos from 1984 to 1987. He was called to the bar in 1988.

4. The new INEC Chairman is a Professor of Law at the University of Jos, Plateau State and is also an alumnus of the university. 

5. He specialises in Company Law, Law of Evidence, Corporate Governance and Privatisation Law. He became a Senior Advocate of Nigeria in September 2014.

6. He earned an LLM at UNIJOS in 1993 and a PhD in 2007, amid an academic career that began in 1989, following his National Youth Service at the Bauchi State Publishing Corporation in Bauchi from 1988 to 1989.

7. Currently, he serves as the Deputy Vice-Chancellor (Administration) at the University of Jos, a position he holds in conjunction with being the Pro-Chancellor and Chairman of the Governing Council of Joseph Ayo Babalola University in Osun State.

8. Among the academic positions he has held at UNIJOS are: Chairman of the Committee of Deans and Directors (2012-2014); Dean of the Faculty of Law (2008-2014); and Head of Public Law (2006-2008).

9. Outside of academics, Amupitan serves as a board member of Integrated Dairies Limited in Vom, a member of the Nigerian Institute of Advanced Legal Studies Governing Council, and a member of the Council of Legal Education (2008-2014), among other roles. He was a board member of Riss Oil Limited, Abuja(1996-2004).

10. Amupitan is the author of many books on law, such as Corporate Governance: Models and Principles(2008); Documentary Evidence in Nigeria (2008); Evidence Law: Theory and Practice in Nigeria(2013), Principles of Company Law(2013) and an Introduction to the Law of Trust in Nigeria (2014). He is married and has four children.