Lauretta Onochie: Senate Reveals Why Buhari’s Aide Was Rejected As INEC Commissioner
- A special assistant to the president on social media, Lauretta Onochie's nomination as INEC commissioner has been turned down by the Senate
- Buhari had written the Senate to confirm Onochie and five others as the INEC commissioners ahead of the 2023 election
- The Senate, however, confirmed five persons and rejected Onochie based on what it called the violation of the federal character principle
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FCT, Abuja - Nigerian Senate has said that the nomination of Lauretta Onochie, an aide to President Muhammadu Buhari, was rejected because of her partisanship and breach of federal character principle.
The Punch reports that this was contained in a statement released by the special assistant (press) to Senate president, Ezrel Tabiowo, on Tuesday, July 13.
Source: UGC
Legit.ng gathered that the statement quoted the chairman of the committee, Senator Kabiru Gaya (APC, Kano South), as saying that the committee also received several petitions against the nomination of Onochie.
Onochie's nomination violates the federal character principle
Vanguard also reports that he explained further that her nomination violated the federal character principle as there is already a serving national electoral commissioner from Delta state, Mary Agbamuche-Mbu, who was screened and confirmed by the 8th Senate.
The lawmaker further stated that the committee bound by the provisions of section 14(3) of the 1999 constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria (as Amendment) on federal character principle, refused to recommend Onochie for confirmation.
Gaya said:
“In the case of Ms. Lauretta Onochie’s, having studied her curriculum vitae and other relevant documents, followed by exhaustive interaction around the petitions against her nomination which she responded to accordingly, including attesting that she is not a registered member of any political party."
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Senate rejects Onochie as INEC commissioner
Meanwhile, Legit.ng had previously reported that the Senate rejected Lauretta Onochie's nomination as a national commissioner of the INEC.
It was reported that Onochie was rejected following the consideration of the report of the Committee on INEC, chaired by Senator Kabiru Gaya (APC, Kano).
The Senate at the committee of the whole, thereafter, voted against Onochie's nomination as the INEC commissioner.
In a related report, the red chamber confirmed the five commissioners nominated by President Buhari after considering the report of its committee on INEC on Tuesday, July 13.
The panel recommended Onochie’s disqualification as INEC National Commissioner because her nomination is allegedly in violation of the 1999 Constitution on the principle of Federal Character.
Source: Legit.ng
