The Coalition of United Political Parties (CUPP) claimed yesterday that the nomination of Presidential aide, Lauretta Onochie, for appointment as a commissioner of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) is part of an alleged plot to “perfect Buhari’s third term agenda.”
The coalition labeled the nomination “a dangerous threat to democracy and the unveiling of APC’s third-term agenda.”
It is the latest of the many objections to the nomination.
Onochie, who is President Muhammadu Buhari’s Personal Assistant on Social Media, faced the Senate on Thursday for screening.
The CUPP in a statement signed by its spokesman, Mark Adebayo, berated the Presidency for ignoring public outcry against Onochie’s nomination for the INEC job.
It said: “Since last year that the nomination of Mrs Onochie went public, many socio-political organisations, opinion moulders, civil society organisations and the general public have raised the alarm on the danger a publicly biased individual can unleash on our electoral system and democracy, but typical of this government that runs a near-fascist regime, it has ignored these patriotic calls for restraint on this Onochie nomination nonsense.
berated the Presidency for ignoring public outcry against Onochie’s nomination for the INEC job.
It said: “Since last year that the nomination of Mrs Onochie went public, many socio-political organisations, opinion moulders, civil society organisations and the general public have raised the alarm on the danger a publicly biased individual can unleash on our electoral system and democracy, but typical of this government that runs a near-fascist regime, it has ignored these patriotic calls for restraint on this Onochie nomination nonsense.
Read Also: I’m not APC card-carrying member, Onochie tells Senate
“It is now very clear that her nomination is not unconnected with the rumoured third-term agenda of Mr. President. Otherwise, why should the President continue to push for her nomination despite public outcry against her nomination?
“Meanwhile, whatever Mrs Onochie says to the contrary, she is an APC member and an active member of Buhari campaign groups. She has not resigned her membership of the APC and remains vocal in her support for the Buhari government.
“Such a person, especially with Mrs Onochie’s pedigree of insulting majority of Nigerians who disagree with the failed government under which she serves due to her blind biases, cannot be trusted with a sensitive national assignment as the position of an INEC commissioner.
“It is not only dangerous to our democracy but a present and clear danger to the integrity of our electoral processes.
“An Onochie as INEC’s national commissioner is like having a known criminal preside as a judge in a case where he/she is the accused. Put differently, it is akin to asking a student to mark his/her examination script and those of his/her colleagues who sat for the same examination together. Nobody can expect the scales of justice to balance in such a scenario.
“Yet, that’s what we have here. It is no rocket science to know that Mrs Onochie can never be neutral in any election involving her party and her principal’s interests.
“She can’t be trusted to preside over a free, fair and credible election anywhere and at any level in Nigeria. We suspect that her appointment is a targeted one to perfect the third-term agenda of General Buhari’s cabal.
“We call on the Nigerian Senate to toe the path of honour and reject this terrible nomination by not confirming her nomination. Should the Senate go ahead to confirm Onochie’s nomination, it would become an accomplice after the fact of electoral robberies that are bound to happen under her watch.
“If the President wouldn’t listen to the voice of reason and the citizens’ concerns as he is wont to, you the representatives of the people must save our fledgling democracy by rejecting Mrs Onochie’s nomination and reserve for yourselves a place on the right pages of history and posterity.
“An Onochie confirmation would inflict a damaging dent on the integrity of our elections. Don’t confirm her.”
The nominee sparked an outrage on Thursday after telling the Senate that she ceased to be an APC member in 2019, contrary to the affidavit she swore to before her nomination affirming her membership of the party.
A tweet she posted on June 24, 2020 promoting the APC also went viral on social media.
“There is DEFINITELY an APC e-NEC meeting TOMORROW. We are going through a growth process. Thank you everyone,” she had tweeted at the time
She acknowledged on Thursday the many petitions against her drawing attention to her membership of the APC and the fact that someone from her state –Delta – was already on the board of INEC.
Petitions came from civil society organisations.
The opposition Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) has also kicked against her nomination.
She told the Senate that she is no longer partisan.
She said: “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.
“Since Buhari was elected as president for the second term, I have removed myself from everything about 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.”
