By Israel Adebiyi
There is something about names that our generation has slowly forgotten – their power, their prophecy, their weight in defining purpose. In the African worldview, a name is never an accident; it is a covenant. Our forebears named their children with deliberation, believing that words shape destiny. They did not simply call a child by what sounded beautiful; they invoked meaning, heritage, and expectation. That is why the Yoruba man, in a blend of philosophy and poetry, says, “Orúkọ ń rò ènìyàn” – a name molds its bearer.
It was this philosophy that filled my mind recently while interacting with members of the National Youth Service Corps Editorial CDS. During the introductions, one of the names that caught my attention was “Ajobiewe.” It instantly set off a train of thought – could there be a shared essence between names like “Ajobiewe” and “Eweje”? Were these mere titles of grace, or metaphors for destiny? In that moment, I was reminded again that our ancestors were intentional people; they named not just for identification, but for instruction.
That meditation on names became even more striking with the emergence of a new Chairman of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC): Joash Ojo Amupitan. His surname, AMUPITAN, loosely translates to “the one whose life will tell stories or bear testimonies.” It is an uncommon name, but in a nation desperate for uncommon results, perhaps Providence is sending a message. For too long, the stories from Nigeria’s electoral body have been grim – tales of betrayal, manipulation, and distrust. But with Amupitan, Nigeria stands once again at the threshold of possibility: can this man become the positive story we have waited to tell?
To understand the task before the new INEC boss, one must first confront the ruins of public perception. Few institutions in Nigeria suffer as much credibility deficit as the electoral commission. From one election cycle to another, INEC has been accused of playing foot soldier to political interests, shifting goalposts midway, and delivering outcomes that mock the people’s will. It is a sad irony that the very institution meant to uphold democracy is often viewed as its greatest saboteur.
The distrust is generational. From the annulled 1993 election that shattered the hopes of millions, to the bitterly contested 2007 and 2019 polls, Nigerians have seen enough to be skeptical. Even the 2023 general election, heralded by promises of technological innovation through the BVAS and IReV systems, ended in disillusionment for many. Citizens who had hoped that technology would outsmart human manipulation were left heartbroken by what they perceived as selective transparency. Confidence in the system has been badly eroded.
This is the “itan” – the story – that Amupitan inherits. And it is not a flattering one. Yet therein lies his mandate: to rewrite the narrative, to tell a story different from those who came before him.
History has a way of testing every man it calls. For Amupitan, this appointment is both an opportunity and a trial. It is an opportunity to restore faith in one of Nigeria’s most important democratic institutions; but it is also a trial of character, courage, and conviction. He must choose whether to be remembered as another custodian of a broken system or as the one who dared to fix it.
In doing so, he must first recognize that electoral credibility does not rest merely on gadgets or grand pronouncements. It rests on integrity and institutional will. A thousand reforms mean little if those who implement them lack the courage to stand by the truth.
The new INEC Chairman must, therefore, prioritize transparency and communication. He must understand that Nigerians are not asking for perfection, but for honesty. He must rebuild confidence, not through press conferences, but through consistent and verifiable actions that prove the commission’s neutrality. Every election supervised by INEC, every rerun, every by-election must bear the unmistakable stamp of fairness.
The truth is that many of INEC’s failures stem not from technical limitations, but from internal rot. A structure compromised from within cannot deliver credibility externally. The new chairman must therefore embark on a bold internal reform – one that enforces discipline, integrity, and accountability within the ranks of electoral officers.
Every election year, Nigerians hear of “compromised ad-hoc staff,” “tampered results,” or “missing materials.” These are not coincidences; they are the consequences of a weak enforcement culture. To change the story, Amupitan must clean the house. He must be willing to confront the entrenched interests within the institution that have grown fat on impunity.
There is also the urgent need to strengthen collaboration with civil society groups and the media. These watchdogs are not enemies of the commission; they are partners in accountability. Opening INEC’s processes to scrutiny will not weaken it – it will legitimize it. Transparency, after all, is the oxygen of democracy.
Technology, while essential, is not the silver bullet. The BVAS, the IReV, and other innovations introduced in recent years have shown both their potential and their limits. Machines can transmit data, but they cannot transmit conscience.
Amupitan must, therefore, pair technological innovation with ethical reform. There must be stronger vetting and training of ad-hoc staff, better communication with party agents, and clearer contingency plans for network failures and litigation. The aim is not just to conduct elections, but to conduct credible ones that leave no room for avoidable suspicion.
No democracy survives long when the people lose faith in the ballot. That is Nigeria’s greatest danger – not coups, not protests, but apathy. When citizens begin to believe that their votes no longer matter, they retreat from the civic space, and democracy slowly dies.
Amupitan’s task, then, is not just administrative; it is spiritual. He must rekindle belief. He must make Nigerians dream again of elections where competence triumphs over manipulation, and where winners celebrate without the sour taste of stolen mandates.
This will require humility – the willingness to listen to public grievances, admit institutional lapses, and take corrective action promptly. Leadership in INEC must shed arrogance and embrace service.
But even as we place demands on the new INEC Chairman, we must also turn to the political class. Electoral credibility is not the sole responsibility of the umpire; it is the collective responsibility of all who play the game. Politicians who see public office as a do-or-die affair undermine democracy more than any faulty server could.
Nigeria’s political actors must learn to win honorably and lose gracefully. They must stop weaponizing ethnicity, religion, and violence to subvert the people’s will. For once, the pursuit of power should give way to the pursuit of purpose.
The judiciary, too, must rise above compromise. When courts deliver judgments that contradict the spirit of democracy, they do not just decide cases – they shape national destiny.
Democracy is not a spectator sport. Citizens cannot demand accountability from institutions they do not engage with. Nigerians must therefore reclaim ownership of the process. From voter registration to election day monitoring, the people must be involved, informed, and insistent.
Civil society must keep the pressure on. The media must continue to tell the stories that matter, without fear or favor. And ordinary Nigerians must understand that participation is power – the ballot, when used with conviction, is still mightier than the bullet.
Names, after all, are prophecies. Amupitan – the one who will be used to tell stories. The question is: what story will be told of him? Will it be another lamentation of lost opportunity, or a narrative of national redemption?
In a time when Nigeria’s democracy trembles under the weight of cynicism, his appointment is an invitation to hope. The story he writes will not be written with ink, but with integrity; not with words, but with actions.
At the end of his tenure, may the stories told of him not be of betrayal and bitterness, but of courage and credibility. May his name – Amupitan – indeed become a testimony, not just for himself, but for a nation that desperately needs one.
