By John Ikani
One of the nominees for the Federal Commissioner of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), Madam Lauretta Onochie says she is no longer involved in partisan politics.
Onoiche made the disclosure when she appeared for screening by the Senate Committee on INEC on Thursday.
According to her, she was a member of the ruling All Progressive Congress (APC) before the 2019 general elections.
“Like I said, as from 2019, after President Muhammad Buhari was reelected, my duties in politics ended and it stopped. And all my concern thereafter was to support Mr. President”, Onochie told the Committee.
Onochie was nominated as a Federal Commissioner to represent the South-South Zone of Nigeria by President Muhammad Buhari.
Many Civil Society Groups and the opposition parties had kicked against the nomination of Onochie, who was the Senior Assistant to President Buhari in his first tenure.
Aside allegations of being in partisan politics, it was also noted that Onochie hails from Delta State, whereas, a serving Federal Commissioner in INEC also hails from the same state, which negates the Federal Character principle of the Nigeria’s constitution.
As at the time of filing this report, it was yet to be decided if the nominee should be placed on oath, as suggested by Senator Bamidele Opeyemi (Ekiti North).
