Joash Amupitan (middle in grey suit) before his screening by the senate | Photo: Sunday Karimi
Abdul Ningi, senator representing Bauchi central, has told Joash Amupitan, chairman of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), that his success in office will depend on his leadership qualities rather than academic credentials.
Ningi spoke on Thursday during the senate screening of Amupitan as INEC chairman.
The senator noted that the electoral body has been led by several professors in the past, restating that academic excellence alone does not guarantee effective leadership.
“The agency that you are about to take over is not a stranger to professors,” Ningi said.
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“Professor Henry Nwosu, Professor Jega, Professor Yakubu, Professor Iwu, and so on and so forth. What that tells you and tells Nigeria is that the issue is not about academic excellence.
“It has to do with someone’s upbringing, his forthrightness, his fairness, his patriotism, and of course, the love of this country.”
Ningi, who is a member of the senate electoral committee, said Nigerians are demanding greater transparency in the electoral process, particularly through the real-time transmission of results.
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“As a member of the electoral committee, courtesy of the senate, we have traversed this country,” he said.
“One of the highlights of our public interaction is the demand for transmission of results in real time. That encapsulates a lot of logistics, but more particularly, it is about the mindset of the leader of the agency.”
The senate later confirmed Amupitan as chairman of INEC.
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