By PETER ANOSIKE

A chieftain of the African Democratic Congress (ADC), Nelson Ahamefula Akuma, has said that praising the newly appointed chairman of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), Prof. Joash Amupitan, based on his academic qualification as missing the point.

According to him, Amupitan predecessors had those qualifications before their appointments but they ended up messing the elections,

He said that the praise should come when the new INEC Chairman has conducted elections and they are free, fair and credible.

According to him, what is important is the degrees and certificates of the appointed but his character.

He said that as far as he is concerned, Prof. Amupitan remains a suspect until he proves otherwise which is by conducting free, fair and credible election.

“I have seeing a lot of people praising the newly appointed INEC Chairman, Prof. Joash Amupitan saying that he is sound, professor of Law and stuff. The issue is not about paper qualifications, after all his predecessors, Attahiru Jega and Mahmood Yakubu were also professors. The important thing is the content of character of the person. The ability to rise above the wishes of who appointed him and work for Nigerians. So, I am excited or moved one bit about his appointment until he do what he was appointed to do credibly. In 2023, Prof. Mahmood Yakubu made a lot of wonderful promises to Nigerians but at the end of the day, he disappointed big time and left bitter taste in the mouths of Nigerians. Once bitten twice shy.”

Akuma said that Prof. Amupitan now has a wonderful opportunity to write his name in gold in Nigeria.

He said that the only way he could do that is to check all the wonderful promises that Mahmood Yakubu made to Nigerians before the 2023 general election and make sure he fulfill them when he would be conducting his own elections.