Labour Party to INEC Chair Amupitan: Redeem Africa’s Largest Democracy or Bury What’s Left of It

By John Alechenu, Abuja

The Labour Party (LP) has called on the newly appointed Chairman of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), Prof. Joash Amupitan (SAN), to restore Nigerians’ confidence in the electoral process and redeem the credibility of Africa’s largest democracy.

In a statement issued on Friday in Abuja, the party’s Interim National Publicity Secretary, Tony Akeni, said Prof. Amupitan faces a defining moment — one that will determine whether he will “redeem the largest democracy in Africa or further mutilate and bury its corpse which Prof. Mahmood Yakubu left behind.”

Akeni urged the new INEC boss to decide whether to serve the Nigerian people or succumb to political pressure from those who appointed him.

“He must choose whether to be honoured by over 230 million Nigerians who employed President Bola Tinubu, or to serve the unconstitutional wishes of a single man who appointed him,” Akeni stated.

The LP spokesman added that Nigerians would remember Amupitan’s tenure by how he handles his early decisions, especially concerning electoral transparency and party leadership disputes.

According to Akeni, the first litmus test for Amupitan’s integrity will be to remove Julius Abure and his defunct council from INEC’s portal and recognize the Nenadi Usman-led executive, which the LP claims is the legitimate leadership based on a Supreme Court ruling affirming that party leadership must reflect internal party decisions.

The party further advised the INEC chairman to focus on rebuilding institutional trust, stressing that the nation’s democracy “cannot survive another season of compromised elections and partisan manipulation.”