The Peoples Democratic Party has urged the Senate to reject the nomination of Presidential Aide, Lauretta Onochie, as a National Commissioner of the Independent National Electoral Commission.
The National Publicity Secretary of the party, Mr Kola Ologbondiyan, gave the advice at a news conference on Wednesday in Abuja.
Ologbondiyan said the reasons why the National Assembly stood down Onochie’s nomination eight months ago had neither changed nor abated.
He advised the Senate President, Ahmed Lawan, to respect the will of Nigerians and the country’s constitution by immediately returning the nomination.
Ologbondiyan also urged the Chairman of the Senate Committee on INEC, Senator Kabiru Gaya, to resist attempts to confirm Onochie, saying, “The PDP charges Gaya to immediately stand down all deliberations that concern Onochie before his committee.
“Lawan must know that Nigerians are now holding him directly answerable for gross misconduct and impeachable act of perfidy for sending Onochie’s already rejected nomination to the Gaya’s Committee, in utter violation of the provisions of the 1999 Constitution (as amended) and total derision for the sensibility of Nigerians.
“Our party reminds Senator Lawan that the reasons that forced his hands to stand down Onochie’s faulted nomination eight months ago have neither changed nor abated.
“The reasons are still sticking and they are not far-fetched,” he said.
Ologbondiyan said that paragraph 14 of the third schedule of the 1999 Constitution (as amended) forbids a person involved in partisan politics to hold office as a member of INEC.
“Relying on the above in demanding for a litmus of respect for the supremacy of the 1999 Constitution, the PDP holds that Onochie, is a card-carrying member of the All Progressives Congress from Ward 5 Onicha Olona, Aniocha North Local Government Area of Delta state.
”She is also public campaigner for the APC and the President, and cannot, by any stroke of imagination, be appointed as an INEC official at any level and under any guise whatsoever.
“Therefore, the PDP directs our members and other democratically minded members of the National Assembly, across party lines, to activate and deploy all legislative instruments at their disposal against Onochie’s confirmation as a National Commissioner of INEC.
“The PDP also directs all our members and all lovers of democracy across the country to get ready to use all legitimate means, including civic action, against Lawan and the APC leadership in the Senate if they do not rescind their attempt to confirm Onochie at all costs.”
He said the party would take legal action against Lawal, Gaya and the National Assembly if the nomination of Onochie was passed.
