Olushola Omogbehin
The new Chairman of the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, Prof. Joash Amupitan, has pledged to end the era of excessive pre-election litigations that has long plagued Nigeria’s democracy.
He said this yesterday at the 56th Annual National Conference of the Nigerian Association of Law Teachers (NALT) at the University of Abuja.
According to him, one of his major duties as the chairman INEC was to “end the courtroom warfare” that often began long before ballots were cast.
He said INEC would not continue to operate in a system where over 1,000 pre-election cases were recorded ahead of the 2023 general elections.
Calling the process “litigation” and not “democracy,” the solution, he explained, lies not in endless legal battles but in strict adherence to the law, beginning with the political parties themselves.
“If political parties obey their constitutions, respect the Electoral Act and align with the Nigerian constitution, the avalanche of pre-election cases will collapse. My goal is simple: to make the law an instrument of change, not chaos.
“My desire is that when we get the law right, even the losers will be the first to congratulate the winner. That is when we can truly say our democracy has matured.
“We cannot continue to allow the courts to determine our elections. Elections must be won at the polling units, not in the courtroom,” he maintained.
Amupitan also called on the National Assembly to give strength to the country’s electoral laws, insisting that the credibility of elections depended on robust legal frameworks and political parties that practiced real internal democracy.
In his address to the law teachers, students and jurists at the event with the theme, “Law, National Development and Economic Sustainability in a Globalised World,” he challenged the academic community to see law as a tool for reform and justice, rather than opportunism.
“As law teachers, we must lead by example, building a generation that values integrity over influence and justice over convenience.’’
NALT President and Dean of the Faculty of Law, University of Ibadan, Prof. John Akintayo, praised the vision of Amupitan while reiterating that law remained the backbone of good governance and sustainable development.
“A nation’s progress depends on how its laws anticipate, adapt to and shape change,” he said.
