Presidential aide, Lauretta Onochie on Thursday, faced the Senate Committee on the Independent National Electoral Commission INEC led by Senator Kabiru Gaya,a former Governor of Kano State.
Contrary to widespread belief that Onochie is a card carrying member of the All Progressives Congress APC, she told the committee that she does not belong to any political party.
According to her, her active involvement in politics stopped when President Muhammadu Buhari was re-elected in 2019 .
To buttress her current non partisan position, Onochie said that she did not take part in the recently conducted registration and revalidation process of the APC .
” Since 2019, when President Muhammadu Buhari won his second term,I have removed myself from anything political,so when APC decided to do a proper registration of their members, and to revalidate their membership,I did not take part in that exercise.”
Onochie’s nomination by President Buhari received outrageous reactions from the opposition Peoples Democratic Party PDP and some civil society groups as they described the nomination as unconstitutional.
Onochie was one of the four nominees appointed by the President in October 2020.
A letter seeking the confirmation of the appointment was transmitted by the president to the Senate on October 12 and read by the Senate President, Ahmad Lawan during plenary.
Onochie’s screening was however, deferred following series of petitions against her. Eight months after, the Senate President directed the INEC committe to screen the presidential aide.
Onochie’s appearance before the Senate Committee and answering questions that received the nod of Committee members indicates a significant step on the way to her confirmation as Resident Electoral Commission .
