By Nchetachi Chukwuajah
On Thursday, October 23, Professor Joash Amupitan was sworn in as the substantive national chairman of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), taking over from Professor Mahmoud Yakubu, who proceeded on terminal leave on October 7.
Following his swearing in, Amupitan is now tasked with ensuring the credibility of Nigeria’s elections and the electoral process.
This was emphasised by President Bola Tinubu during the swearing in ceremony at the Council Chamber of the Presidential Villa, Abuja, noting that all aspects of electoral process must be credible and devoid of violence.
In his four-year tenure, Amupitan will oversee the 2027 general election that will have candidates jostling for presidential, gubernatorial, National Assembly, and House of Assembly elections across the country.
However, Amupitan’s grit will be evaluated using a litmus test – off-cycle elections, which are currently held in eight of Nigeria’s 36 states outside the regular and general election season.
Since return to democratic rule in 1999, Nigeria has held this practice to ensure that governorship candidates elected in various states complete their four-year tenure, in accordance with Section 180 (2) of the 1999 Constitution as amended.
The states with this unique election season due to different political shake ups are Imo, Anambra, Ekiti, Ondo, Osun, Bayelsa, Edo, and Kogi.
As INEC’s helmsman, Amupitan is saddled with conducting elections in three of these eight states before the 2027 general election. They are Anambra, Ekiti, and Osun.
First on Amupitan’s radar is the November 8, 2025 gubernatorial election in Anambra State, which has candidates of 16 political parties jostling for the governorship seat, including the incumbent governor, Professor Chukwuma Soludo of the All Progressives Grand Alliance (APGA), who is seeking reelection.
The second of the off-cycle elections facing Amupitan before 2027 is the gubernatorial election in Ekiti State, which INEC said will be held on Saturday, June 20, 2026.
Recall that the last governorship election in the state was held in June 2022, with the four-year tenure of the incumbent governor, Biodun Oyebanji, ending next year
For Ekiti State, INEC said the political party primaries will start on October 20 and end on November 10.
Political parties are expected to upload their nomination forms to the dedicated portal, which will automatically shut down at 6 p.m. on December 22, 2025.
The electoral body said the final list of candidates will be published on January 18, 2026, while political parties’ public campaigns will commence on January 21, 2026 and end 24 hours before election day.
The Osun State governorship election, fixed for Saturday, August 8, 2026, is the third off-cycle election Amupitan will oversee before the 2027 election.
With the last governorship in the state being in July 2022, the four-year tenure of the incumbent governor, Ademola Adeleke, will end next year.
For Osun State, INEC said party primaries will commence on November 24 and end on December 15, adding that the portal for political parties to upload nomination forms will close at 6 p.m. on February 9, 2026.
It added that the final list of candidates will be published on March 9, 2026, while campaigns in public by political parties will commence on March 11, 2026 and end 24 hours before election day.
Apart from gubernatorial elections, Amupitan also has to oversee the Area Council elections in the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) on February 21, 2026.
Already, INEC has published the final list of 65 candidates from 17 political parties after screening for the FCT Area Council poll.
