PRESIDENT Buhari, today, re-nominated his media aide, Lauretta Onochie and five others as Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) National Commissioners.
Recall that eight months ago, Onochie’s nomination sparked outrage.
Her first nomination was sent to the Senate on 12 October 2020 but she was not cleared.
But the Senate Leader, Yahaya Abdullahi (Kebbi North), who presented an executive communication, today, asked the Senate to consider the request of President Buhari on the confirmations of the following persons for appointment as commissioners of INEC in accordance with paragraph 14 part I(F) of the third schedule to the 1999 Constitution of the federal republic of Nigeria as amended.
The nomination commissioners are Prof Muhammad Sani Kallah (Commissioner Katsina); Lauretta Onochie (Commissioner Delta); Prof Kunle Cornelius Ajayi (Commissioner Ekiti); Said Babura Ahmad (Commissioner Jigawa); Prof Sani Muhammad Adam (Commissioner North- Central) and Dr Baba Bills (Commissioner North- East).
Seconding the motion raised by the Senate Leader, the Minority leader of the Senate, Enyinnaya Abaribe, made a parable to express displeasure on the nomination of Onochie, who was rejected earlier.
Abaribe said that it is not when they have passed the evil forest that they will be dragged back.
Abaribe specifically mentioned Onochie (Delta) as a nominee they had rejected, adding that they will meet at the committee meetings.
“She was rejected but her name has been repacked and has resurfaced as Commissioner from Delta State,” Abaribe said.
Senate President, Ahmad Lawan, who presided over the plenary said all the nominees are national commissioners adding that there is no change of request from the President.
“The request is hereby refer to the committee on INEC to report back in two weeks,” Lawan said.
Meanwhile, the Joint Minority Caucus in the National Assembly has asked the Federa
Government to swallow its pride and accept its misdoing and go and settle whatever issue it has with Twitter instead of this resort to inflicting pains on Nigerians.
The caucus position followed the recent banning of the microblogging site, Twitter, by the FG.
Describing the move as ego-driven, the minority caucus on Wednesday said the action “is completely unacceptable as it is worsening the already biting economic hardship and frightening unemployment level in the country.”
In a statement jointly signed by the Senate Minority Leader, Enyinnaya Abaribe and Hon. Ndudi Elumelu, the Minority Leader of the House of Representatives, the lawmakers noted that since the ban, Nigerians have been losing billions of naira on daily basis.
The Caucus said: “As lawmakers, the Joint Caucus is pained by the anguish Nigerians, especially the youths, who find the use of twitter as a means of livelihood and genuine social interaction, are passing through just because the APC-led Federal Government feels slighted that an individual’s post, was deleted by Twitter for ethic violation.”
It added that criminals and terrorist elements, whose activities fester in an environment of suppressed information flow stands to benefit more from the government’s action.
This is as it dismissed “threats by the APC-led government to arrest and prosecute Nigerians using twitter and calls on Nigerians to go ahead and use their twitter as they would not be contravening any law in Nigeria or any international statute.”
According to it, “Articles 19 and 20 of the United Nations Charter on Fundamental Human Rights, which Nigeria is a signatory to, as well as provisions of Sections 39 and 36 (12) of the 1999 Constitution (as amended), and notes that by these provisions no one will be violating any law for using twitter in Nigeria.”
This is even as it insisted that students, research-based organization, media houses, the organized civil society, faith-based organizations, community groups among others, whose information-based activities have been violently disrupted by the ban.
The joint caucus therefore call on Nigerians to use various opportunities offered by technology and continue making use of twitter since such does not violate any law in our country.
The Joint Minority Caucus listed groups like the organized private sector, manufacturing and service providing companies, small and medium enterprises, online businesses owners and other hardworking entrepreneurs across the country, whose genuine business and means of livelihood have been crippled by the unwarranted ban on Twitter by the APC federal government.
Others are, traditional rulers who the caucus said “have even found twitter as a means of communicating with the constituents, especially in this era of insecurity in the country.”
It therefore lambasted “the APC-led government for abandoning its duty of addressing the serious economic and security problems confronting the country to focus on dissipating energy victimizing Nigerians over their disagreement with Twitter for deleting a post by an individual.
