Constitutional Lawyer Dismisses Call For INEC Chairman’s Sack

Constitutional lawyer and Senior Advocate of Nigeria (SAN), Professor Sebastine Hon has dismissed the call by the Sharia Council of Nigeria for the sack of the Chairman of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), Prof Joash Amupitan SAN as an unguided request.

He said that the call predicated on possible bias against a particular interest was not only ridiculous but amounts to invitation to President Bola Tinubu to breach the provisions of the 1999 Constitution.

In a statement in Abuja on Sunday, the senior lawyer maintained that the reasons advanced
by the Council to back the call are not tenable constitutionally and empirically but mere blackmail.

Specifically, the Professor of law explained that contrary to the erroneous position of the Sharia Council, the INEC chairman can only be removed from office by the President, acting on the provisions of the Constitution and and the requirements from National Assembly.

The statement he personally signed read “I have observed with shock the call made by the Sharia Council of Nigeria for the removal or resignation of Prof. Joash Amupitan from office as the Chairman of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC).

“The reasons advanced by the Council are, with respect, not tenable constitutionally and empirically.

“Subsections (1) and (2) of section 157 of the Constitution provide that the Chairman of the Independent National Electoral Commission “may only be removed from that office by the President acting on an address supported by two-thirds majority of the Senate praying that he be so removed for inability to discharge the functions of the office (whether arising from infirmity of mind or body or any other cause) or for misconduct.”

“From the above provisions, not even the President has power to remove Prof. Joash Amupitan, SAN from office with the wave of the hand: he has to subject his decision to the approval of at least two-thirds of members of the Senate.

“Secondly, the removal must be based on the stated constitutional reasons: “for inability to discharge the functions of the office (whether arising from infirmity of mind or body or any other cause) or for misconduct.”

“To be more specific, the Nigerian Constitution, in particular, section 157(1) and (2) – the only provisions dealing with removal from office of the INEC Chairman – does not contemplate such removal being based on a prior public opinion expressed by the occupant of that office.

“It will amount to doing grave and damaging violence to the Constitution if such interpretation is imputed to those crystal-clear provisions.INEC having been so established, section 154 of the same Constitution makes it mandatory that its Chairman shall “be appointed by the President and the appointment shall be subject to confirmation by the Senate.

“State House press statement issued on that same October 10, 2025 quoted Governor Ahmed Usman Ododo of Kogi State (himself a Muslim) as describing Amupitan as “a man on integrity. After the unanimous clearance by the National Council of State, the Senate, in compliance with the above-adumbrated provisions of the Constitution, also unanimously confirmed the appointment on October 16, 2025.

“Besides, Prof. Amupitan has not committed any of the listed infractions that would make him lose office – as spelt out under section 157(1) and (2) of the Constitution.I vehemently oppose calls for the removal from office of Prof. Amupitan as INEC Chairman. I also strongly counsel him not to succumb to this blackmail, by voluntarily resigning from that office.

PR/Garry Ochigbo