He is said to be a Professor of Law, a Senior Advocate of Nigeria by professional calling, and possibly an ethno- religious bigot hiding in the cradle of knowledge. He was called to serve the Nigerian people erroneously without a discreet investigation on his person until his appointment was confirmed by the docile Senate piloted by his like mind, Godswill Obot Akpabio, a charlatan in the seat.
Honestly, Nigerians had not earlier heard or known any man called Prof Joash Amupitan SAN before his appointment to the sensitive position he occupies. That forms the reason why his appointment as INEC chairman was received with cautious optimism. But the job, testy as it has always been, has just exposed his fragile underbelly. We are just getting to know that he is a jay in borrowed plumes, a reprobate mistaken by those around him for a sound mind.
Just a few months in the seat at the Electoral Commission, the ugly stuff that he is made of is staring us nakedly in the face. Amupitan, in both appearance and delivery, does not inspire confidence or trust. His ordinariness is stark and undistinguished. He belongs to a particular category of Alexander Pope’s dunces whose problem borders on intellectual mediocrity. His public appearances so far represent a dumbing down of both moral and intellectual integrity. In him, dullness is being passed as merit. He is determined to change the name of the Commission, from Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), to Dependant National Electoral Commission (DNEC) which can easily be approved by Akpabio’s Senate once it reaches there.
Nigerians have, no doubt, had reprehensible elements in the past as Chairmen of the Electoral Commission, particularly the master dissembler, Prof. Mahmoud Yakubu.
But if of all people, Yakubu, despite his docility, could hypocritically hide behind the mask for a reasonable length of time before he was discovered as unfit for the position, Amupitan foolishly failed to hide, but appeared as predictable as day and night. He is not pretending about his bias and sympathy for the man and party that appointed him. He is at once timid, immature and clownish. If Amupitan were wise, he wouldn’t have stepped out so carelessly and early as he has done. It is only a man without the power of mind that can openly go to war with an institution that he superintends over the way Amupitan has done with the African Democratic Congress (ADC), Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), and now crawling with his arsenals to the NDC for a destructive mission.
With the open hostility that he has been showing to opposition political parties, Amupitan has, wittingly or unwittingly, rendered himself morally lame and unfit for the job he lobbied for.
Given the ugly scenario he has created already, how will Amupitan escape the charge of bias in any election where one of the political parties involved has avowed enemy?
How can opposition parties go to any election with an umpire that is already decidedly against them?But we understand where Amupitan is coming from, and where he is going. He was sampled out for an appointment by a president who has run Nigeria aground. In proper climes, Tinubu would, by now, be considering himself lucky to have occupied the exalted office of president through a tolerated imposition. With his incredibly poor performance in office, Tinubu would have been winding up to save Nigeria. But rather than seek to vacate office honorably, Tinubu wants to stay on to inflict more injuries to the country’s body politic. To ensure that he returns, Tinubu went shopping for a plaint individual to do his bidding. He readily found one at the University of Jos in person of Joash Amupitan. This is the surface appearance of Amupitan’s appointment.
However, considering the sensitive nature of the assignment that Amupitan was appointed to undertake, he should have brought or borrowed finesse and creativity to bear on the job to at least prove a point. His first focus should have been on his reputation and professionalism if he cherishes them. There is a reason why intellectuals are usually appointed to Chair the Electoral Commission. The assumption is that a highly educated mind is at least expected to operate with a high level of circumspection. He is not expected to be led by the crowd. He will at least engage in series of deciphering in order to arrive at the doorstep of reason. He will not be swayed by the position of the anonymous public. A thoroughbred intellectual is the master of his environment. Professors Maurice Ewu, Abel Guobadia, and Attahiru Jega are always remembered for standing tall when it mattered.
The INEC Chairman is not expected to be led by the nose. A person entrusted with the onerous task of a returning officer in a presidential election should have the state redeeming qualities. That is the ideal. Regrettably, however, this has not always been the case in practical terms. Quite a number of those who served before Amiputan failed this litmus test. But then, they were somewhat creative in their deliveries. But Amupitan is incredibly bland, greedy and possibly corrupt. There is no art to his servility. If anything, he is operating like a bird of prey. He is ready to break all the rules in a bid to regurgitate the content of the handout given to him. Very sad and unfortunate!
Amupitan, with his present disposition, is endangering the country’s democracy as much as his paymaster, Tinubu. It will be a pity if Amupitan throws his hat in the ring without refection. A little bit of reflection would have pointed the way for him, if he were the intellectual he was thought and claim to be.
Any Nigerian whose senses are functioning even at a very minimal level will easily decipher the fact that Tinubu is all out to destroy the Amalgamation that birthed Nigeria. He was rigged to office fully prepared to give Nigeria the worst government ever. In doing what he is busy doing with the support of lap and attack dogs, he does not care about what anybody is saying, feeling or threatening to checkmate him. He is single-minded in his pursuit of a divisive agenda.
No Nigerian leader who means well for the country will cajole and hound all over the governors into his political camp the way Tinubu has done out of fear. A President who has done so badly in office ought to be shunned like a plague. But Tinubu will have none of that. He must present to the world a false sense of the true state of affairs in Nigeria for commendation. Even when it is evident that his line of action can be catastrophic for the country, the man is not relenting but desperate.
He is not batting an eyelid. He must push on even when the  unpleasant outcomes are boldly etched on the landscape. No patriot operates that way. Someone who means well for his country will read the mood of the people and act appropriately. But Tinubu does not care a hoot about that. He is a typical wild bull in a China shop.
Sadly, Amupitan is President Tinubu’s agent provocateur. He was appointed by the President to ignite fire in the camps of opposition parties, degrade the democracy, cause confusion which he is gladly and proudly doing. To imagine that this is happening in an election season is most unfortunate. How do we approach a national event as fractious as an election with volatility? That will be cataclysmic.
A secondary school certificate holder as a wise intellectual electoral umpire will not do what a whole Professor Amupitan is doing. His level of  immaturity is glaring and amazing. He is an overzealous recruit trying to outperform the man that appointed him on the odd and risky errand. The battle is not his but he has decided to appropriate it with his entire energy.
Whatever may be the case, the burden is Amupitan’s. He has a responsibility to purge himself of the indiscretion that is slowly weighing him down. Even though he is just a factotum who was given a handout on the job that he was invited to do, he can still work towards self-redemption. He still has an opportunity to save what remains of his integrity for himself. The starting point is for him to stop behaving as if the office he occupies is an arm of the presidency. If he perseveres in error, history will not just remember him for his moral bankruptcy, posterity will consign him to the infamous corner of nation-destroyers who ensured that Nigeria remains a laughing stock in the eyes of the world. He may be remembered as one of the worst Nigerians that ever lived. A University Professor who exhibited greed more than greediness itself. A senior lawyer trusted with a national assignment but chose to disgrace the legal profession for a bowl of porridge. Respected British Jurist Lord Denning could have described him pro bono as a wolf putting on a wig for shame.
Muhammad is a commentator on national issues.
