As the nomination of Lauretta Onochie by President Muhammadu Buhari as the federal commissioner of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) continues to generate heat despite her screening by the senate committee on INEC on Thursday, Senator Lawal Yahaya Gumau representing Bauchi South at the national assembly has said that the Senate will use the position of the law on her confirmation.
Sen. Gumau, in an interview with newsmen shortly after Onochie’s screening at the national assembly said, he does not want what befalls the former Minister of Finance, Kemi Adeosun to repeat itself again, stressing that the Senate succumb to pressure and prevailed on Adeosun to resigned her position when it was obvious that the allegation of not having National Youth Service Corps (NYSC) certificate labelled against her was true.
He noted that just on Wednesday; a federal high court in Abuja ruled that Kemi Adeosun had no obligation to produce an NYSC certificate to enable her to hold public office in Nigeria, therefore, he lamented on the injustice done to Adeosun.
“Why I supported the oath-taking of Onochie is because I don’t want a repeat of what happened to the former minister of Finance, Kemi Adeosun. From the judgment of the appeal court yesterday (Wednesday) you will agree with me that the senate meted injustice on her for pressuring her to resign without recourse to the position of the law.
“My mission on her screening on Thursday was to kick against her nomination but the judgment of the appeal court on Adeosun opened my eyes to the position of the law so because we will be discussing her confirmation among the senators without her been presence formed my decision to support her oath-taking so that at any time the court found that she was not supposed to be there or otherwise, it won’t be another injustice on our part.
During the screening by the Senate Committee on INEC on Thursday, Onochie, who was drilled by the lawmakers denied being a member of any political party in Nigeria at the moment.
It will be recalled that 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 from 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 Nigeria’s constitution
But Onochie finally admitted she discontinued her membership of APC in 2019 and she did not partake in the revalidation of membership of the party held in early 2021.
“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.
