CUPP to Senate: Toe path of honour, reject Onochie’s INEC nomination

Lauretta Onochie

The Coalition of United Political Parties (CUPP) has called on the Senate to toe the path of honour by not confirming the nomination of the president’s Personal Assistant on Social Media, Lauretta Onochie, as an Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) Commissioner.

CUPP made the call in a statement signed by its spokesperson, Comrade Mark Adebayo, a copy of which was made available to the Nigerian Tribune. It said should the Upper Chamber go ahead to confirm her nomination, it would become an accomplice after the fact of electoral robberies that were bound to happen under her watch. 

CUPP, while it condemned the nomination and Senate screening of Onochie, further described it as “a dangerous threat to democracy and the unveiling of APC’s third-term agenda.”

The opposition group noted that the Buhari regime had again turned deaf ears to the overwhelming public outcry against the ill-advised nomination of a known sycophant of the president as an INEC commissioner, adding that it was now very clear that her nomination was not unconnected with the rumoured Third-Term Agenda of Mr President.

“In the established tradition of the Buhari regime, it has again turned deaf ears to the overwhelming public outcry against the ill-advised nomination of a known sycophant of the president as an INEC commissioner. 

“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 an 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,” CUPP said.

“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 outcries against her nomination,” it queried. 

The opposition group maintained that Onochie was an All Progressives Congress (APC) member and an active member of Buhari campaign groups, saying she had not resigned her membership of the ruling party as she remained vocal in her support for the Buhari government.

According to the group, a person “especially with 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,” adding, “it is not only dangerous to our democracy but a present and clear danger to the integrity of our electoral processes.

“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.”

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