The Senate President Ahmad Lawan, on Wednesday, directed the Committee on the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) to screen President Muhammadu Buhari’s Senior Special Assistant on Social Media, Lauretta Onochie, alongside five other nominees as INEC commissioners.
The directive is coming eight months after President Buhari sent the list of the nominees to the Senate for screening.
Other names on the list are Prof. Kunle Ajayi (Ekiti), Saidu Ahmad (Jigawa), Prof. Muhammad Kallah (Katsina), Dr Baba Bila (North-East) and Prof Sani Adam (North- Central).
The Senate INEC panel, which has Senator Kabiru Gaya as Chairman, has a month to conclude the screening and report back to the red chamber at plenary.
Recall that some senators, mostly from the leading opposition party and some from the APC and civil society groups kicked against Lauretta’s nomination, saying she was “too partisan” to be a commissioner in an important institution like INEC.
They also faulted the idea of making Onochie, a card-carrying member of the All Progressives Congress as an INEC Commissioner to represent Delta State on the board of the commission.
Details later…
