The Amupitan I Know Has No Integrity – Dalung

• Alleges 16 Students’ Results Were Traded Off Under INEC Boss As Faculty Head At Unijos

Former Minister of Youth and Sports, Solomon Dalung, has described the chairman of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), Professor Joash Amupitan (SAN), as a “man with no integrity”.

Dalung also alleged that 16 students of the University of Jos, during the 2009-2010 academic session, had their 2-1 results traded off under the INEC boss, who was then the Dean, Faculty of Law at the university.

He made the allegations during an interview on Trust TV.

He said, “The Amupitan I have known since 1991 as a student and later in 2004 as a colleague when I was lecturing in the university has no integrity.

“There were things that happened under his watch in the University of Jos when I was a lecturer. So, he is not someone who has any integrity that one would come here to waste time on.

“When he was dean in the Faculty of Law, the 2009–2010 academic session, 16 students had their 2-1 results traded off under his watch. And we had special students, some of them were serving duty in the General Police, some of them were politicians in the National Assembly, in the House of Representatives, who were even absentee students. They graduated with 2-1, while 16 students had their 2-1s traded off.”

The African Democratic Congress (ADC) chieftain faulted remarks made by Amupitan about the party’s planned convention, accusing the INEC chairman of attempting to silence opposition voices under the pretext of issuing warnings.

“But let me go back to what he said — that he was telling ADC, he was warning ADC that what happened in Zamfara would happen with the ADC. Excuse me, is Amupitan aware of what happened in Zamfara?” he queried.

According to Dalung, the political crisis in Zamfara had no correlation with what was happening in the ADC.

“What happened in Zamfara was not about the leadership of the party. Because if what happened in Zamfara has to do with the leadership of the party, the entire PDP election in Nigeria would have been cancelled by the court. It has to do with the process of selecting candidates which was not followed by the Electoral Act.

“So for him to use that as a warning to the ADC, it is clear that he is demonstrating the type of character he is. He failed to address issues but was issuing warnings because that was part of the game… so that he would come on air and then threaten Nigerians so that he could whittle down the momentum in ADC,” Dalung alleged.

“It was so disappointing that a professor of law could go that low to begin to issue warnings when he has a responsibility to explain. So I know Amupitan very, very well. He’s somebody I have worked with closely. He doesn’t have integrity,” he added

Speaking further on the allegation of trading off students’ results, Dalung said he led a protest in response to the alleged actions, despite threats to his academic progress.

“I, Solomon Dalung, took the struggle of the 16 students against the faculty board. I was threatened that if I do not step down from the struggle, I will not graduate for my master’s programme. And I sacrificed my master’s programme to fight for the students,” he stated.

He continued, “We got eight 2-1 students back, two we lost. This happened under his watch as dean of the Faculty of Law.”