By Richard Elesho
Senator representing Kogi West Senatorial Zone, Steve Karimi, has expressed appreciation to President Bola Tinubu for the appointment of Prof. Joash Amupitan, SAN, as the new Chairman of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC). Amupitan, the incumbent Deputy Vice-Chancellor in charge of Administration at the University of Jos, Plateau State, was nominated by the President and proposed to the National Council of State (NCS). He received the unanimous concurrence of the body to replace Prof. Mahmood Yakubu, who was in office for one full decade.
According to Karimi, in a statement by his media officer, Busayo Tosin, President Tinubu chose one of Nigeria’s finest scholars, most rigorous legal minds, experienced administrators, and non-partisan patriots. His words: “I feel personally gratified that Mr. President has looked in the direction of my senatorial district for the appointment of an intellectual of astounding repute, a man of distinction and integrity, for the choice of a helmsman for the nation’s electoral ombudsman.”
Amupitan, Karimi noted, is a pan-Nigerian to the core, who, though from the Okun-Yoruba section of Kogi West, has lived most of his life in Plateau State—from his first day in the university through his doctorate—before pursuing an illustrious career over the past four decades. “Not forgetting that he underwent his National Youth Service Corps (NYSC) in Bauchi State in Nigeria’s North-East,” Karimi added. These, he noted, make him a thoroughbred “Arewa son.”
Senator Karimi expressed the collective appreciation of the people of Kogi West for the trust and confidence reposed in one of theirs. He expressed optimism that Prof. Amupitan’s sterling antecedents will stand him in good stead to be the best head of a national electoral body Nigeria has ever had.
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