A NOMINEE for the Federal Commissioner of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), Lauretta Onochie, on Thursday, said she stopped being a member of the ruling All Progressive Congress (APC) after the 2019 general elections.
Onochie’s nomination as a Federal Commissioner to represent the South-South Zone by President Buhari has sparked widespread criticism.
Some leaders of the People’s Democratic Party (PDP) had last week staged a protest to the National Assembly against Onochie’s selection.
Onochie was 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.
During the screening by the Senate Committee on INEC today, Onochie, who was drilled by the lawmakers, denied being a member of any political party in Nigeria at the moment.
When quizzed further by former Deputy Senate President, Dr. Ike Ekweremadu; Senator Seriake Dickson (Bayelsa West) and Senator Itsifanus Gyang (Plateau South); Onochie admitted she discontinued her membership of APC in 2019 and she did not partake in the revalidation of membership of the party held early 2021.
“Like I said, as from 2019, after President Muhammadu 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.
She also could not refute the affidavit she sworn to at a Federal High Court, after she returned from the United Kingdom, where she affirmed that she was an APC member and a member of the Buhari Support Group.
