Senate committee on Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) has begun the screening of Lauretta Onochie.
Gatekeepers News reports that the presidential aide was nominated by President Muhammadu Buhari as an INEC commissioner.
President Buhari sent his request for her confirmation in October 2020.
In June, Senate President Ahmad Lawan directed the senate committee on INEC to screen Onochie.
The presidential aide will be screened alongside others who were also nominated by the president as INEC commissioners.
These include Muhammad Kallah, Kunle Ajayi, Saidu Ahmad, Sani Adam and Baba Bila.
Many Nigerians condemned the nomination on the grounds that Onochie is partisan. She is a member of the All Progressives Congress (APC).
In reaction to the condemnation of Nigerians, Ajibola Basiru, senate spokesman, asked Nigerians to petition the upper legislative chamber if they think she is not qualified for the position.
On Tuesday, some CSOs filed a lawsuit against Buhari over the nomination of Onochie.
In a suit marked FHC/ABJ/CS/604/2021, filed before a federal high court in Abuja, the CSOs are asking the court to determine whether the president “can nominate a card-carrying member or members of his political party or any other political party in Nigeria, as a national commissioner or resident electoral commissioner for the independent national electoral commission”, contrary to sections 14 (2a), 14 (3), 14 (3b), 14 (4) and Section 154 (1) of the Constitution of the federal republic of Nigeria 1999 (as amended in 2011).
This is a developing story…
