With Ekiti voters heading to the polls on Saturday, June 20, 2026, the governorship election is shaping up as more than a contest among candidates. It is also a test of public trust in the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) under its new chairman, Professor Joash Ojo Amupitan.

Ekiti State, popularly known by the slogan “Land of Honour and Integrity” and educationally nicknamed the “Fountain of Knowledge,” will elect a governor who will be saddled with the primary responsibility of steering governance in the state for the next four years.

The forthcoming election will feature 13 contestants, including the incumbent governor, Governor Biodun Abayomi Oyebanji of the All Progressives Congress (APC), who was sworn into office on October 16, 2022; Dr Wole Oluyede of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP); and 11 other contenders from political parties such as the African Democratic Congress (ADC), Young Progressive Party (YPP), Labour Party (LP), New Nigerian People’s Party (NNPP), Social Democratic Party (SDP), and Accord Party. They will contest the Ekiti off-cycle governorship poll across the state’s 16 local government areas.

It is against this backdrop that Professor Joash Ojo Amupitan (SAN), Chairman of the Independent National Electoral Commission and a distinguished professor of law, has declared the commission’s readiness to conduct the forthcoming poll. While assuring voters, political parties, and other stakeholders in Ado-Ekiti during an interactive session with media executives that all required preparations had been concluded to ensure a hitch-free, transparent, and credible poll, the chairman noted:

“We did not want to speak from an air-conditioned boardroom in Abuja or rely solely on paperwork. We went to the theatre of operations to see for ourselves how our systems are performing. The mock accreditation is essentially to test our facilities, especially our technology, and ensure that everything required for the election is functioning optimally. What we observed today confirms that our technological defence against identity theft and result manipulation is robust and fully operational. We have provided upgraded backup BVAS devices and deployed technical engineers across the state. Any malfunctioning device can be replaced within minutes.”

While it is worth emphasizing that certain critical variables, such as the state economy, Internally Generated Revenue (IGR), under-five mortality rate, unemployment, security, debt profile, allocations from the Federation Account Allocation Committee (FAAC), social services, out-of-school children and fiscal transparency, will provide residents and voters of Ekiti with a basis for making informed decisions, it is the opinion of the writer that beyond these factors, what will be most instructive in determining the legitimate winner of the June 20 election will depend not only on INEC’s conduct of the poll, but also on the character and capacity of the INEC chairman to do the right thing and ensure that the votes of the Ekiti people count.

This, I strongly believe, is the crux of the matter. Therefore, will Professor Joash Ojo Amupitan (SAN) be able to withstand political pressure and the powers that be to deliver a credible poll to the people of Ekiti and to Nigeria at large on Saturday?

Suffice it to state that since 2019, the integrity of INEC chairmen has been at the centre of Nigeria’s most consequential and most contested elections. For instance, from the 2019 presidential election to the 2023 general elections, and through off-cycle polls in Kogi, Edo, Anambra, Osun, and Ekiti states, the reputation of the commission’s leadership has wavered between “improved technology” and “compromised process.”

The 2019 Server Controversy and the 2023 Technical Glitch: The Collapse of Confidence

Since 2015, Ekiti governorship elections have provided one of Nigeria’s most condensed lessons in election management. Similarly, in 2019, Professor Mahmood Yakubu, the former chairman of the commission, faced intense scrutiny over claims related to INEC’s alleged central collation back-end server for authenticating the veracity of votes cast in the 2019 presidential election.

Atiku Abubakar of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) claimed victory based on what he described as INEC’s “server results.” INEC denied transmitting results electronically. The Supreme Court, however, ruled that INEC had no server. Yet the public debate remained, as the word “server” lingered on the lips of many Nigerians.

When Nigerians thought they had seen the height of such controversy, Professor Mahmood Yakubu, the INEC chairman during the 2023 general elections, presided over another disputed process. In that election, the Bimodal Voter Accreditation System (BVAS), used for accreditation, and the INEC Result Viewing Portal (IReV), designed for real-time result viewing, were legal innovations under the Electoral Act 2022. However, INEC later announced a failure of the presidential IReV system.

The incumbent president was declared the winner even as presidential results from many polling units had not been uploaded to IReV within 24 hours after the polls. INEC cited “technical glitches,” but opposition parties and many Nigerians described the incident as sabotage. The European Union Election Observation Mission (EU EOM), in its final report, stated that the lack of transparency around IReV undermined public confidence.

Currently, the appointment and confirmation of Professor Joash Ojo Amupitan (SAN), a distinguished professor of law, as Nigeria’s chief electoral umpire has brought with it another weighty moral burden. It has also sparked debates about INEC’s independence, the chairman’s integrity, and public trust.

His appointment has been met with criticism from some opposition figures and civic voices, who have questioned whether INEC can remain fully independent under his leadership. This has, to a considerable extent, created negative perceptions about his ability to deliver credible elections. For that reason, the Ekiti governorship election presents an important opportunity for the INEC chairman to demonstrate, through action rather than words, that the commission can conduct a transparent, impartial, and credible poll.

GoNigeria 2026 March Survey

A recent survey conducted by GoNigeria concerning Nigerians’ perception of, and confidence in, INEC ahead of the 2027 general elections, and published in Vanguard’s edition of March 18, 2026, showed that less than 50 percent of Nigerians have confidence in the Independent National Electoral Commission.

In conclusion, it is imperative to reiterate that, since 2019, several controversies concerning public perception and credibility have dogged both the commission and its chairmen. However, while the current chairman has pledged neutrality, he must understand that neutrality is not claimed; it is demonstrated.

Voting is a civic sacrament. Democracy is about voting, and it is about the majority vote. It is time Nigerians started exercising the democratic process with confidence that their votes will count.

Thus, the Saturday Ekiti State governorship election will not only be another opportunity for more than one million registered voters in Ekiti to exercise their legitimate right to determine what happens to their IGR, under-five mortality rate, unemployment, security, debt profile, FAAC allocations, social services, out-of-school children, and fiscal transparency over the next four years. It will also be an integrity test for the INEC chairman himself and the commission, as the country heads towards the 2027 general elections.

June 2026 is therefore not just another off-cycle poll; certainly not. Rather, it is a major test of the governorship under Professor Joash Ojo Amupitan’s leadership. Like Caesar’s wife, he must be above board.