The Centre for Democracy and Development (CDD) has renewed its objection to the nomination of Lauretta Onochie as a national commissioner of Nigeria’s electoral umpire.
CDD said that the nomination of the member of the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) could spell doom for Nigeria’s democratic principles if the Senate allowed it.
The nomination of Onochie, who is the Senior Special Assistant to the President on Social Media, was noted in a letter from the presidency to the Senate in October 2020.
In their immediate reaction to the nomination of Onochie for the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) job, some civil society organisations (CSOs), including CDD, described it as unconstitutional.
However, the Senate, on 09 June, 2021, set in motion the process of screening the Buhari media aide for the INEC commissioner role.
Nigeria’s constitution specifically declares that appointees to INEC must be non-partisan and also not a card-carrying member of any political party.
‘A member of the commission shall be non-partisan and a person of unquestionable integrity’, Section 14(2a) of the Third Schedule of the country’s 1999 constitution, as amended, states.
Onochie has openly displayed partisanship by supporting the ruling APC.
In a statement by its Director, Idayat Hassan, CDD asked the Senate to reject the nomination to save Nigeria from further ridicule.
The CSO said it had petitioned the Senate, highlighting the effects of such a move on INEC and the country’s electoral process at large if allowed by the upper house.
‘First, Ms Onochie is from Delta State, the same state from which Barrister May Agbamuche-Mbu, a current national commissioner, hails. Barrister Agbamuche-Mbu’s tenure is not ending until December 2021’, it noted.
‘Also, Mr Mike Igini, the Resident Electoral Commissioner for Akwa Ibom State, hails from the same state and his tenure will end in August 2022. Neither Mrs Agbamuche-Mbu nor Mr Igini has been removed from office.
‘Therefore, Ms Onochie’s confirmation will contravene the federal character principle as enshrined in the 1999 constitution of Nigeria, as amended.
‘President Buhari’s re-nomination of Ms Onochie from Delta State promotes inequity and appears to send a message that there are no qualified and non-partisan persons in the other South-South states worthy of appointment into INEC’.
CDD also said, ‘Ms Onochie does not hide her partisan support for the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) and she is likely a card-carrying member of the party.
‘It is also important to realise that her partisanship is the reason she was appointed to her current role as an aide to President Muhammadu Buhari on social media’.
CDD also said that the nomination was a breach of Section 30 (Paragraph 14, Part 1 of the Third Schedule to the Constitution) which forbids anyone of questionable character from being appointed into the election management body.
‘The nominee, in past elections, particularly ahead of the 2019 general election, used her social media handle (@laurestar) to peddle fake news, with the intent to delegitimise INEC’, CDD noted.
‘She also peddled fake news when she shared photographs of a Nasarawa-Jos road construction project purportedly done by the Muhammadu Buhari administration.
‘CDD’s fact check traced the images she posted to a foreign construction project shared on iStock photos, where she lifted the images’.
Source: CDD
Photo source: Femi Adesina
