Attahiru Jega warns the Senate against confirming Onochie as INEC commissioner

A former Chairman of the Independent National Electoral Commission, Prof Attahiru Jega, has warned the Senate against confirming the appointment of a presidential aide, Lauretta Onochie, as a National Commissioner of the Independent National Electoral Commission.

The former INEC chairman gave the warning while featuring on Sunday Politics, a current affairs programme on Channels Television, on Sunday night.

“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.

 The Executive Director of Yiaga Africa, Samson Itodo, during his interview with NewsWireNGR had also condemned the nomination. According to him, “The desperation of the ruling political class to rig the 2023 election is horrifying. 

Last week, the Senate Committee on INEC, has defied protests from the opposition Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, civil society groups, others and begun the screening of Onochie as one of the National Commissioners of INEC.

Onochie during her screening, had denied being a member of the ruling party, All Progressives Congress (APC), claiming she withdrew her membership since 2019. She challenged anybody to come out to show evidence of participating in APC activities since 2019.