Lauretta Onochie’s nomination by President Muhammadu Buhari as National Commissioner for the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), has been officially rejected by the Nigerian Senate. This comes just a few days after the immediate past chairman of INEC, Professor Jega advised the President on National television against Lauretta Onochie’s nomination
The Senate on INEC had gone ahead to screened Lauretta Onochie, who is a Special Assistant to the President, and also a member of the ruling party of the All Progressives Congress (APC). The screening was done last week, despite public uproar when she was nominated by the President.
During the screening, Onochie said she was not a member of the All Progressives Congress (APC), a claim many Nigerians faulted.
Lauretta Onochie’s nomination has sparked controversy from human rights groups, lawmakers from the opposition and even some members of the ruling APC.
Groups have argued that Lauretta Onochie’s partisanship are all over the digital space and her nomination brings credibility issues to the Commission.
Some argued that she is too biased and therefore should not be a commissioner in government institutions such as the electoral commission.
Jega on his part, had said: “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 had said while featuring on Sunday Politics, a current affairs programme on Channels Television, on Sunday night.