Why Onochie, Buhari’s partisan INEC nominee, should not be confirmed – CSOs

“CDD is of the strong opinion that Ms. Onochie’s nomination by President Muhammadu Buhari is ill-conceived, politically motivated and intended to roll back years of successes recorded by the electoral umpire to promote independence, non-partisanship and integrity in Nigeria’s electoral system.“

IF there is anyone who should pull all the stops in the defense of an independent, credible and non-partisan electoral process, it should be President Muhammadu Buhari.

In 2007, the Presidential election in which Buhari again ran for President was so integrity-challenged that the winner at the time, Umaru Musa Yar’Adua made an unprecedented statement acknowledging that the polls were irretrievably flawed. In 2011, Buhari was in the centre of it all when hundreds, including young people participating in the National Youth Service Corps (NYSC) were killed by angry mobs, who were dissatisfied about the results of the Presidential poll.

As candidate right from 2003, when he began his storied quest for the Presidency, Buhari was a victim of some of the major flaws that characterised Nigeria’s chaotic electoral politics. In 2003, candidate Buhari had to go through the mill of the judicial process, up to the Supreme Court to challenge election rigging and other forms of entrenched malpractices, which stripped the general elections of all iota of credibility.

So, when Buhari finally won his historic mandate in 2015, one of the key factors, which made his triumph possible was the vast improvement in the electoral process. The introduction of technology, the valiant effort to weed out all forms of partisanship within the Election Management Body (EMB), and the resolute leadership of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) were significant improvements, which created the basis for Buhari’s historic win.

INEC led by the resolute Attahiru Jega refused to bow to all forms of political pressure, which could have compromised the polls. In the end, the level playing field was created for the contestants, and that was the context in which Buhari and his fellow “change” agents in the All Progressives Congress (APC) propelled themselves to the Nigerian Presidency at the fourth time of asking.

In the light of this background, there was a healthy dose of optimism that on the watch of President Buhari, the electoral process would witness a lot more improvement and that partisan interference would be banished.

Unfortunately, one major decision recently taken by the President appears to defy the quaint Hegelian logic, which talks of history moving forward. In the reckoning of several stakeholders, if the President’s toxic decision is allowed to stand, then it would have set the stage for the reversal of the gains made by INEC in terms of efforts towards projecting a non-partisan outlook.

Specifically, the President’s nomination of his rabidly partisan aide, Lauretta Onochie as a National Commissioner of INEC has caused shock waves in the entire electoral system. The nomination, which is currently before the Senate for confirmation, has been the subject of numerous petitions by pro-democracy campaigners.

Concerned civic actors pushing to ensure the nominee is not confirmed by the Senate have provided different compelling reasons.

One of the groups registering its vehement objection to the nomination, is the Centre for Democracy and Development (CDD). In a petition addressed to the Senate President, CDD Director, Idayat Hassan, anchored the Centre’s objection on two major grounds; the nominee’s clear and very open affiliation with the ruling APC, and the violation of the federal character principle.

According to CDD, which recently won a global rating as the number one democracy think tank on the African continent, Ms Lauretta Onochie should not be confirmed as a National Commissioner of INEC because of her partisan affiliation to the APC. The group described Onochie as “an outward promoter and supporter of the ruling APC,” who would likely show no neutrality, if she gets into INEC.

“CDD is of the strong opinion that Ms. Onochie’s nomination by President Muhammadu Buhari is ill-conceived, politically motivated and intended to roll back years of successes recorded by the electoral umpire to promote independence, non-partisanship and integrity in Nigeria’s electoral system.

“CDD makes this conclusion for many reasons: Firstly, Ms Onochie doesn’t hide her rabid and partisan support for the ruling APC and she is likely a card-carrying member of the party.

“If confirmed as National Commissioner, the nominee’s partisan disposition would undermine the independence, which is one of the pillars on which INEC and the elections it conducts can derive legitimacy and acceptability. Section 156(1) of the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, 1999, forbids an appointee to INEC to be a member of a political party. Item F, Paragraph 14 of the Third Schedule of the Constitution prohibits a partisan politician from being appointed a member of INEC – a body charged under the Constitution to conduct free, fair and credible elections,” the petition read.

CDD also made copious reference to Section 30 (Paragraph 14, Part 1 of the Third Schedule to the Constitution), which forbids anyone of questionable character from being appointed into the election management body. The pro-democracy think tank canvassed the position that as a visible promoter of a registered political party, Ms Onochie will continue to protect the interest of the APC if confirmed by the Senate.

“But, equally, an openly political partisan person like the nominee cannot fairly and dispassionately monitor the organisation and operation of political parties, including their finances, without being biased towards other political parties. Moreover, CDD firmly believes that the said Ms Onochie represents political baggage to the INEC, and would hinder the Commission’s work and legitimacy. Therefore, we are confident that any election she is a part of will be subjected to multiple litigations, even when there is a genuine win by the APC.

“Secondly, on the ground of respect for the principle of federal, the nomination is irretrievably flawed. Ms Onochie is from Delta State, the same state from which Barrister May Agbamuche-Mbu, a current INEC National Commissioner, hails. Barrister Agbamuche-Mbu’s tenure is not ending until December 2021. In addition, Mr Mike Igini, the Resident Electoral Commissioner for Akwa Ibom State, also hails from the same Delta state. Having been sworn in on August 4, 2017, Mr Igini’s tenure will end in August 2022.”

CDD observed that neither Mrs Agbamuche-Mbu nor Mr Igini has been removed from office. The group therefore drew attention to the fact that Ms Onochie’s confirmation as INEC National Commisioner will contravene the Federal Character principle as enshrined in the 1999 constitution of Nigeria as amended. The civic group therefore protested that President Buhari’s nomination of Ms. Onochie from Delta State promotes inequity, which also amounts to an attempt to exclude the other five states in the South-South geo-political zone, which have an abundance of worthy and nonpartisan Nigerians qualified to be appointed into INEC.

Subsequently, the group warned that although many observers’ reports have applauded INEC for improvement in the two off-season governorship elections in Edo and Ondo states, there remained the challenge of lack of confidence in the electoral body among Nigerians.

The pro-democracy think tank further made the assertion that for credible and hitch-free polls to be conducted, the support of Nigerians cannot be over-emphasised. It therefore argued that appointing someone highly considered politically biased could undermine trust in elections, erode confidence in the system and further dampen the integrity of INEC to conduct credible elections in the country.

Beyond the issues canvassed with respect to partisanship and violation of the principle of federal character, CDD went on to put the spotlight on the character of the nominee.

It was of the view that Ms Onoche is not fit and proper by the rules of natural justice and good conscience to be an INEC commissioner. It said: “The nominee, in past elections, particularly ahead of the 2019 General Election, used her social media handle (@laurestar) to peddle fake news, with the intent to divide the country and even delegitimise the election management body, INEC, of which she now aspires to be a member.

“Also, Ms Lauretta Onochie peddled fake news when she shared photographs of a Nasarawa-Jos road construction project purportedly done by the Muhammadu Buhari administration. CDD’s fact checkers traced the images she posted to a foreign construction project shared on iStock photos, where she lifted the images.”

Having canvassed those strong and valid arguments to fault the nomination, the civil society group called on the Senate to reject the nomination in its entirety. It also admonished President Buhari to “honourably” withdraw her nomination to save INEC from being ridiculed within and outside the country.

Whether President Buhari would listen and do the right thing to save INEC from the albatross of a partisan and deeply flawed nominee, is a different matter altogether.