Six months after President Muhammadu Buhari nominated four individuals, three as National Commissioners and one as Resident Electoral Commissioner of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), the fate of the nominees are still hanging in the balance. AbujaCityJournal's Raheem Akingbolu and Olayemi Esan report.
The news about their nomination was celebrated by many stakeholders in the Nigerian project, who saw it as a step towards deepening the nation’s electoral process. Three of them; Prof. Mohammed Sanni (Katsina) Professor Kunle Cornelius Ajayi (Ekiti) and Mrs. Lauretta Onochie (Delta) had just been nominated as national commissioners of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) by President Muhammadu Buhari, while Prof. Seiduq Ahmed was nominated as Jigawa State resident commissioner. (Jigawa). The applause that heralded their nominations was short-lived because of the controversial posture of one of them.
Buhari, in an executive communication Senate President Ahmad Lawan, stated that his request was pursuant to Paragraph 14, part I (f) of the Third Schedule to the constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, 1999, as amended@
Though the trio of Ajayi, Sanni and Ahmed are tested university teachers without any blemish, Onochie, a Special Assistant on social media to President Buhari, was a clog in the wheel. As Buhari’s aide, with unapologetic attachment to the ruling All Progressives Congress, APC, many considered her unfit to serve as an electoral umpire. Within a few hours of her nomination, the entire social media landscape had gone awash with many Nigerians calling out Buhari to replace the Delta State-born politician.
At the Senate, where they were expected to be screened and confirmed, opposition to Onochie took a new turn. In a unanimous voice, members of the Red Chamber vehemently kicked and vowed never to consider the presidential spokesperson for such a position. What looked like an unusual development was that opposition to her nomination cut across all the parties but members of the opposition parties were the loudest.
In particular, the Peoples Democratic Party, several civil society organizations, as well as the Pan-Yoruba socio-political organization, Afenifere, had asked Buhari to withdraw Onochie’s name. They all stated expressly that Onochie was too partisan to be considered for such position
Opposition senators said that by nominating Onochie, Buhari had “willfully gone against the constitution he swore to uphold,” and urged him to withdraw it.
“Item F, paragraph 14 of the Third Schedule of the 1999 Constitution (as amended) forbids a card-carrying member of a political party to be a member of the INEC,’’ Senate Minority Leader, Enyinnaya Abaribe, quoted in a short statement.
Also, the National Publicity Secretary of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Kola Ologbondiyan, said the nomination of Onochie as INEC national commissioner supported the position of the party that Buhari’s statements “were mere glib talks on electoral sanctity and clearly demonstrates that he has no plans whatsoever to leave a legacy of credible polls.”
Senate in dilemma...
Six months after the names were sent for confirmation; feelers gotten by the AbujaCityJournal from the National Assembly revealed that the lawmakers are yet to commence legislative work on the request because of Onochie’s unresolved case.
Beyond the traditional reading of the President’s letter on the floor of the Senate, the nomination was said not to have been referred to the Committee on INEC for screening.
Under a normal circumstance, it was expected that after the president’s letter seeking confirmation of nominees is read on the floor of the Senate, the request would be referred to the relevant committees on the next legislative day for further action but till the time of filing this report, 'mum' is the word at the Senate.
The constitutional importance of what the commissioners were meant to do notwithstanding, a senior legislative aide told ACJ that Onochie’s case has boxed the Senate President into a corner.
“Forget the politics out there; the Senate is one big family, the President of the Senate is being careful not to offend the sensibilities of his colleagues from other parties. He’s also tired of being seen as a toy in the hand of the President and he sees this as an opportunity to make a huge positioning statement and tell the world that he’s firm and progressive,” the Aide told AbujaCityJournal.
While disclosing how effort made by some senators to lobby their colleagues in the Senate to help Onochie out failed, he blamed Buhari for his stubborn and unconcerned attitude towards the issue.
“For Christ’s sake, if the President is keen about pushing a woman, Madam Onochie is not the only qualified one in Nigeria. If his reason is that she hails from Delta, the state can boast of many qualified individuals, who could serve diligently. My final take is that he should act fast and nominate another person for the job because of the sensitivity of the assignment,” he stated.
Speaking on the development, a Prof. of Political Science at the Federal University, Oye Ekiti, Azeez Olaniyan, expressed concern that the vacuum created by the lack of having adequate commissioners at INEC is capable of slowing down or frustrating the electoral process.
“It is natural that the development will affect the work of INEC because it is supposed to have 12 national commissioners, two each from the six geopolitical zones. Now, we have about six or thereabout that are yet to be appointed by the federal government, which is not good for the electoral body. My question is what happens to the areas that those people are supposed to cover when we have few numbers now. Definitely, there will be lapses in those areas and it is constitutional that they should even be constituted. So, the fact that they are yet to be constituted means that we have not fulfilled that constitutional provision and that is a negation of democracy. As for those nominated, it’s a sad development because they have remained hanging for close to six months now,” the University lecturer stated.
INEC’s position...
Reacting to the question sent by the AbujaCityJournal, the Chief Press Secretary to the INEC Chairman, Mr. Rotimi Oyekanmi admitted that the electoral body currently has six commissioners, however, he also pointed out that the development hasn’t in any way affected INEC and that the body is earnestly expecting another set of six.
He said: “The responsibility for appointing National Commissioners and Resident Electoral Commissioners lies with the Federal Government, which is the appointing authority. Six National Commissioners left INEC in November last year upon the expiration of their tenure. We are hopeful that six new National Commissioners will be appointed in due course. However, the earlier we have them, the better due to the huge responsibility that INEC has on its shoulders.
