By Atoyebi Nike
The Chairman of the Independent National Electoral Commission, Professor Joash Amupitan, says his administration began with a firm mandate to deliver elections that are free, fair, transparent, and truly reflect the choices of Nigerians.
Speaking in Abuja during the swearing-in of the new Resident Electoral Commissioner, Professor Adeniran Tella, the INEC Chairman stressed that the credibility of the electoral process remains central to the country’s democracy. He cautioned that the Commission would not tolerate any breach of its values, procedures, or ethical standards.
Amupitan reminded the new REC of the need for strict compliance with the Electoral Act, transparency at all levels, and firm resistance to practices such as vote buying. He urged Tella, deployed to Oyo State, to build public trust, motivate staff, and strengthen the state’s reputation for credible polls.
In his response, Professor Tella thanked the Commission for the seamless swearing-in and described INEC’s current direction as one of deep transformation aligned with global best practices. Drawing on his experience in public service and election administration, he pledged to uphold professionalism and ensure fairness in all electoral activities.
He outlined priorities including a stronger results management process built on real-time transmission, continuous training for election officials, better logistics planning, enhanced security collaboration, and improved cybersecurity. Tella also committed to an open-door approach with political parties, observers, and the media, along with broader voter education and pre-election testing of BVAS machines, particularly in remote communities.
The citation presented at the event highlighted Tella’s rich academic and administrative background. A professor of strategic management and public policy at Atiba University and its deputy dean of management sciences, he previously served as Oyo REC, overseeing the Ekiti off-cycle governorship election and the 2023 general elections, both praised for their credibility.
His professional experience includes training at Harvard Business School, a visiting scholarship at Xavier University in the United States, participation in election observation in Maryland, and research presentations in Oxford, Hong Kong, Toronto, Quebec City, and the Netherlands. He has published widely on strategic management, sustainability, governance, and public policy.
