In a bid to get appointed as a Commissioner in the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), President Muhammadu Buhari’s special assistant on social media, Lauretta Onochie, says she is no longer a partisan politician.
She said during a Senate screening on Thursday, July 8, that she believes in due process.
Kabiru Gaya (APC Kano), chaired the screening committee that also screened Kunle Cornelius, Saidu Ahmad, Sani Adam and Baba Bila.
Premium Times says lawmakers referred to petitions and documents that showed she is partisan, including affidavit she signed affirming her membership of the All Progressives Congress (APC).
In her response, she said the petitions against her nomination are because she follows “due process.”
“I have seen the petitions against me but I stand for justice and fairness. Thus, nobody has anything to fear. I am Madam Due Process and this is the reason behind my attacks, because I follow the law and due process.
“I have no partisanship bone in my body until I was invited to come and work with President Muhammadu Buhari,” she said.
According to the online newspaper, a member of the panel, Seriake Dickson, said Onochie’s appointment would be less problematic if she was nominated to be in the president’s cabinet, and noted that INEC already has a national commissioner from Delta State, from where Onochie hails. He asked her to justify why she should be confirmed.
She explained: “Since Buhari was elected as president for the second term, I have removed myself from everything politics. Since 2019, I don’t have anything to do with politics. As I am sitting down here, I am not a member of any political party in this country.”
She claimed that the INEC commissioner currently representing Delta State, Ms Agbamuche Mdu, represents Cross-River State because she married someone from Cross River “and so not representing Delta state.”
Former Deputy Senate President, Ike Ekweremadu, urged Onochie to emulate former Minister of Finance, Kemi Adeosun, and reject the nomination “to protect the integrity of the president.”
According to Premium Times, Plateau senator, Istifanus Gyang, produced a court affidavit where Onochie swore to being involved in politics and also being a member of the APC. Onochie insisted that she removed herself from politics in 2019.
“I swore an affidavit saying I’m involved in politics and a member of APC when I just returned to the country,” she said.
