The Nigerian Senate has rejected the nomination of Lauretta Onochie for appointment as National Commissioner of the Independent National Electoral Commission.
Onochie is President Muhammadu Buhari’s Senior Special Assistant on New Media and her nomination for the INEC job had been greeted with widespread protests.
The Senate Committee on INEC submitted its report in plenary today, in which it disqualified Onochie on grounds of her partisanship and breach of the Federal Character Principle.
The Chairman of the Senate Committee, Senator Kabiru Gaya of the APC, for Kano South, said they received several petitions against Onochie’s nomination.
Senator Gaya said the committee noted that Delta State, where Onochie hails from, already has Mary Agbamuche-Mbu as INEC Commissioner.
Aside Onochie, the Senate also stepped down the nomination of Professor Sani Muhammad Adam as INEC Commissioner for North Central.
However; the Senate confirmed the nomination of five other incoming National Commissioner of INEC, based on the recommendation of the Committee on INEC.
They are Professor Abdullahi Abdu Zuru, Professor Muhammad Sani Kallah, Professor Kunle Cornelius Ajayi, as well as Baba Bila and Saidu Babura Ahmad.