Ms Onochie, who is currently President Buhari’s Special Assistant on New Media, was enmeshed in a controversial appointment into the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) in 2020.
By Jeffrey Agbo
President Muhammadu Buhari has nominated Lauretta Onochie as the substantive chairman of the Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC).
Senate President Ahmed Lawan announced this on Wednesday at plenary.
He also appointed 15 other nominees as members of the board.
The appointments were contained in a letter to Ahmad.
Some of the other nominees for the NDDC board are Dimgba Erugba – State representative (Abia, South East), Ene Wilcox ( Akwa Ibom, State Representative, South South ), Pius Odudu (Edo, South South), Gbenga Odegba (South West, Ondo) and Anthony Ekene (South East, Imo state).
Others are Onyekachi Dimgba (Rivers State South South), Mohammed Abubakar(Zonal Representative, Nasarawa), Tallen Mamma, (North East Representative, Adamawa), Sodique Sani (North West, Zonal Representative), Samuel Ibukun (MD), Charles Airhiavbere, (Executive of Finance) and Charles Ogunmola (Executive Director Project , South West).
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Ms Onochie, who is currently President Buhari’s Special Assistant on New Media, was enmeshed in a controversial appointment into the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) in 2020 when Buhari appointed her as an INEC commissioner to represent Delta State.
The appointment generated public outcry from individuals, civic groups and opposition parties who wrote petitions, staged protests and called on the Senate to reject Onochie’s appointment.
Many also described the appointment as unconstitutional – majorly because she is partisan and has openly campaigned for the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC).
Although she had told the Senate committee on INEC that she quit politics in 2019 and that she was no longer partisan – a claim which turned out to be false, she was rejected by the Senate in July.
The Senate rejected her appointment because “it breaches the federal character principle.”
