The Senate has stepped down confirmation hearings of the three nominations made by President Tinubu into the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC). Confirmation hearings, which were to be set for the first week of December appear unlikely to hold as the Senate Committee on Electoral Matters, which is responsible for the hearings, has yet to set a date for the screening. This may not be unconnected with the confusion surrounding the nomination of Abdulrazak Tukur from Katsina State as a National Commissioner representing the North West. INEC appointments are based on a 12-person membership in addition to a National Chairman, with each of the six geo-political zones producing two persons.
The nomination of Tukur, when the two National Commissioners from the North West remain in office, has caused serious controversy and protest over what appears to be a violation of Federal Character Principle and long-standing practice in INEC appointments. This is worsened by the fact that Tukur is also from Katsina State, which currently has a serving National Commissioner. In nominating Tukur to the Senate for confirmation, the President did not indicate that he will be succeeding any of the existing two national Commissioners from the North West. There is also no indication that either of the two serving National Commissioners have resigned or bee constitutionally removed.
Civil society groups however expect that the Senate Committee on Electoral Matters will apply the same principles that it did, when Lauretta Onochie, Special Assistant to President Buhari was rejected on account of the fact that her nomination when the tenure of May Agbamuche Mbu (from Delta State) as National Commissioner was still subsisting, was in violation of the Federal Character Principle.