Breaking: Senate rejects Lauretta Onochie as INEC National Commissioner

Breaking: Senate rejects Lauretta Onochie as INEC National Commissioner – Following the pressure by Opposition parties and public opinion against the nomination of President Muhammadu Buhari’s special adviser on Social media, Laureta Onochie, the Nigerian senate refused to confirm her as INEC National Commissioner for Delta state.

The upper legislative chamber rejected her appointment after Kabiru Gaya, chairman of the INEC committee, presented a report in plenary.

While presenting the report on Thursday, Gaya said Onochie was disqualified on federal character principles, adding that there is currently a serving commissioner from Delta state, where Onochie hails from.

Financial Watch reports former Chairman of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) Attahiru Jega had warned that the nomination of Lauretta Onochie as INEC National Commissioner could lead to controversy in future elections in the country.

Jega, who spoke during an interview on Channels Television’s Politics Today on Sunday said the president should tread cautiously so as not to appoint someone that could undermine the credibility of the electoral body.

He advised the president to find another woman with unquestionable credibility from the South-South.

“To be honest, the president can just withdraw her nomination. After all, there are so many other women with credibility, capacity, and competence in Delta state and Cross River state.

“This kind of controversy is really avoidable. Any person who generated such a controversy, the appointing authorities should be careful because you don’t want to appoint anybody that can raise suspicions or doubts or can lead to a loss of trust of the electoral management body,” he said.

“I’m sorry to say that from some of the documents that I have been privileged to see, both about her British citizenship and the very active participation in a political party up until 2019, you will try to avoid appointing such people into an electoral commission — because it can generate controversy.

“To be honest, the president can also withdraw that nomination. After all, there are so many women with credibility, with capacity, competence in both Delta and across Rivers, so why bring someone that can generate controversy and raise suspicions about the intention of the appointment.”