- APC: Shut Up, PDP Members ‘ve Been Nominated in the Past Into INEC..
- PDP: Nomination Illegal, An Unacceptable Assault On the Constitution
- CSOs: We ‘ll Lead Protests, Action Could Lead To Constitutional Crisis…
The All Progressives Congress (APC) on Friday responded to the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP)’s call for outright withdrawal of the nomination of a presidential aide, Lauretta Onochie, as a commissioner of the Independent National Electoral Commission.
The ruling party in a statement by the Yekini Nabena, APC deputy spokesman, on in a fiery reply to the PDP challenged the party to disapprove the fact that “some members and brazen apologists” of the PDP are currently not commissioners of INEC.
APC alleged that Johnson Alalibo was a card-carrying member of PDP as at the time he wa nominated and subsequently confirmed as Edo State Resident Electoral Commissioner.
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The APC also claimed that the current INEC Chairman, Prof. Mahmood Yakubu, was a Federal Government appointee during the administration of former president Goodluck Jonathan and may have been a card-carrying member of the PDP before his appointment as the chairman of the electoral organization.
Recall that a loud barrage of criticisms have continued to trail Buhari’s nomination of his Special Assistant on Social Media, Lauretta Onochie, as a national commissioner of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) representing South-South geo-political zone.
The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in a swift and decisive reaction has consistently accused Buhari of engaging in “a highly provocative assault on the nation’s constitution and democratic process “.
Addressing a press conference in Abuja, PDP’s National Publicity Secretary, Mr Kola Ologbondiyan had declared that Buhari has “failed to fulfil his promise of leaving a legacy of credible elections, having failed in all ramifications of governance.”
However, Nabena in his reply said, among other things: “President Muhammadu Buhari’s appointment of Lauretta Onochie as a National Electoral Commissioner for the Independent National Electoral Commission has been subject to rash, subjective, misplaced, and selective criticism by the Peoples Democratic Party and some interest groups,” Nabena said.
“Perhaps the PDP needs to be reminded that one of its card-carrying members, Dr. Johnson Alalibo is the current Edo State Resident Electoral Commissioner.
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“Alalibo who was also a former Deputy Whip in the Bayelsa state house of assembly has been an electoral asset to the PDP but that is an issue to be addressed another day.
“Since public service now equates ‘partisanship’ we invite the Peoples Democratic Party to equally fault appointment of Prof. Mahmood Yakubu, the current INEC Chairman who was the immediate-past Executive Secretary of the government’s Tertiary Education Trust Fund (TETFUND) as well as the earlier stated Dr. Johnson Alalibo”
But it was not only the PDP that has raised objection to Onochie’s nomination. The Nigeria Civil Society Situation Room has similarly asked the Presidency to take move to immediately withdraw the nomination.
The body which is a coalition of over 70 civil society organisations (CSOs) that monitors electoral process and elections across the federation, in its statement signed by its head, Mr Clement Nwankwo, warned that Onochie was a “known partisan supporter of President Muhammadu Buhari and his ruling party, the All Progressives Congress (APC).”
He argued : “Item F, Paragraph 14 of the Third Schedule of the 1999 Constitution of Nigeria (as amended) forbids a partisan politician as a member of INEC – a body charged under the constitution to unbiasedly conduct free and fair elections. Her nomination amounts to a major attempt at undermining efforts to build credibility for an improved electoral process in the country.”
In addition, the Human Rights Writers Association of Nigeria (HURIWA) in a statement by its national coordinator, Emmanuel Onwubiko and national media affairs director, Zainab Yusuf, said on Thursday that the nomination if not withdrawn could lead to serious Constitutional crisis that is capable of negatively affecting our nation’s democracy.
Recall that Buhari had in the correspondence to the upper legislative chamber nominated Onochie alongside Prof. Mohammed Sani from Katsina State, Prof. Kunle Ajayi of Ekiti State and Jigawa’s Seidu Ahmed.
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