*Photo: Professor Joash Amupitan, INEC Chairman*
Trust Is the Oxygen of Democracy – MPAC Calls for INEC Chairman’s Exit
Lagos, Monday, 02/02/2026
The Muslim Public Affairs Centre (MPAC) has closely studied the unfolding public concern over the continued tenure of the Chairman of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), Professor Joash Amupitan, following revelations about his 2020 legal brief and the widespread calls for his resignation.
Let us be clear: this is not a question of competence. It is a question of confidence. And confidence, once fractured, cannot be legislated back into existence.
INEC is not a courtroom. It is not a pulpit. It is not a battleground of ideologies. It is the custodian of the nation’s most fragile covenant – the belief that every Nigerian vote counts equally, regardless of faith, ethnicity, or political leaning.
That sacred role demands not only technical excellence but moral neutrality, emotional distance from sectarian narratives, and a public record that inspires collective confidence.
Professor Amupitan’s 2020 legal brief – which framed Nigeria’s complex security challenges in explicitly religious terms and called for international intervention on that basis – has cast a long and unavoidable shadow over his suitability to preside over Nigeria’s electoral process. Whether or not his views have evolved, public trust is not built on private assurances; it is built on public records.
In a country already bruised by suspicion, polarization, and historical grievance, the continued presence of a controversial figure at the helm of INEC is not merely unfortunate – it is destabilizing.
MPAC therefore calls, respectfully but firmly, on Professor Amupitan to step aside in the interest of national cohesion, democratic credibility, and institutional integrity. This is not a verdict on his intellect or his intentions. It is a sober judgment about the demands of the office he occupies.
Should he choose not to do so, we call on the Federal Government to act decisively and replace him, not as a concession to pressure, but as a duty to the republic. Nigeria is not merely a nation of laws; it is a nation of trust. And when trust collapses, no law, no procedure, no institution can stand.
Nigeria does not suffer from a shortage of capable minds. What it suffers from is a deficit of public trust and we must not deepen that deficit through avoidable appointments.
Our democracy is delicate. Our unity is non-negotiable. Our elections must not become another theatre of religious contestation.
When the referee becomes the controversy, the game is already compromised.
Disu Kamor
Executive Chairman
Muslim Public Affairs Centre (MPAC), Nigeria
kamor.disu@mpac-ng.org
www.mpac-ng.org