{"id":2934,"date":"2022-10-06T18:10:15","date_gmt":"2022-10-06T18:10:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/placng.org\/Legist\/?p=2934"},"modified":"2022-10-07T08:26:25","modified_gmt":"2022-10-07T08:26:25","slug":"senate-defies-objections-confirms-inec-recs","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/placng.org\/Legist\/senate-defies-objections-confirms-inec-recs\/","title":{"rendered":"Senate Defies Objections, Confirms INEC RECs"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p>Defying protests and petitions from civil society organisations, the Nigerian Senate on Wednesday, 5<sup>th<\/sup> October 2022 confirmed nineteen (19) persons nominated by President Muhammadu Buhari for appointment as Resident Electoral Commissioners for the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC). The Senate Committee on INEC \u00a0in its report, stated that it requested for and received security clearance and other relevant documents of the nominees and had them appear before it for screening. According to the Committee, the nominees responded to questions asked during their screening and individually assured the Committee of their non-partisanship and non-card-carrying membership of any political party. According to the Committee, the nominees \u201cpromised to discharge their assignment diligently and in accordance with laid down laws, as well as to contribute their quota towards uplifting the confidence and trust of the electorate in the electoral umpire, INEC by improving the electoral process through fairness and all-inclusiveness.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Nineteen\n(19) RECs were nominated by President Buhari in a communication to the Senate\nlast July 2022. Of the 19, five (5) were for renominated and the remaining fourteen\n(14) were new nominees. Petitions were sent to the Senate Committee on INEC\nregarding four (4) of the new nominees. The Committee received petitions\nagainst Dr. Agundu Oliver Tersoo (Benue), Prof. Mohammed Lawal Bashar (Sokoto),\nMrs. Queen Elizabeth Agwu (Ebonyi) and Dr. Ugochi Pauline Onyeka (Imo) and\nprovided them with an opportunity to defend themselves.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The\nCommittee presented the petitions against the four nominees as follows: <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The\npetition made against Dr. Agundu Oliver\nTersoowas on the ground of partisanship.\nHe was alleged to be a registered member of a political party. Prof. Muhammad Lawal Bashir was\nalleged to have been a Governorship aspirant under the All Progressives\nCongress (APC) in Sokoto State in the 2015 elections. He obtained the\nnomination form of the political party, was duly screened and contested the\nprimary election. The alleged affiliations to political parties violates section\n14(2a) of the Third Schedule to the 1999 Nigerian Constitution which provides\nthat \u201ca member of the Independent National Electoral Commission shall be\nnon-partisan and a person of unquestionable integrity.\u201d Also, section 154(1)(a)\nof the Constitution clearly prohibits the appointment of any person who is a member\nof a political party as a member of INEC.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Given\nthe partisanship credentials of these individuals, the stand of the petitioners\nis that they fail the constitutional requirement of non-partisanship as a\nmandatory condition precedent for appointment as INEC RECs. It is against this\nbackdrop that they concluded that their appointments would undermine the\nneutrality and impartiality of INEC and Nigeria\u2019s electoral process.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Civil\nSociety groups opposed the nominations of Mrs. Queen Elizabeth Agwu (Ebonyi) and Dr. Ugochi Pauline Onyeka (Imo) on\ngrounds of partisanship, compromise and incompetence. According to the\npetition, Mrs. Queen Elizabeth Agwu,\na former Accountant-General of Ebonyi State, was \u201callegedly suspended\u201d on\ngrounds of incompetence in 2016, is reported to be a member of a political\nparty, and also served as Acting Chief of Staff to the Governor of Ebonyi State\nuntil June 2021. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Dr. Ugochi Pauline Onyeka is\nsaid to be a former Head of ICT at INEC in Imo State and was alleged to have\nbeen redeployed for her alleged connivance with politicians to undermine\nelections.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The\nCommittee considered the petitions and made their findings as follows: <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201c<strong>Dr.\nAgundu Oliver Tersoo (Benue): <\/strong>No concrete evidence nor sworn\naffidavit substantiating the allegation of partisanship was found on this\nnominee. It is also clear that the purported evidence of his membership card,\nwas an attempt at mischief as the card was dated 2020 and signed by the current\nChairman of a political party who was not Chairman as at 2020.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201c<strong>Muhammad\nLawal Bashir (Sokoto): <\/strong>Participated in party primaries in 2015\nand lost. He however, according to records before the Committee, disassociated\nhimself from political activities and went back to the classroom and continued\nas a lecturer in the University.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201c<strong>Mrs.\nQueen Elizabeth Agwu (Ebonyi):<\/strong> It was discovered she was a\nformer Chief of Staff to the Governor of Ebonyi State from June 2020 to June\n2021, a position which was purely administrative. However, there was no\nevidence to prove her partisanship. She was given a commendation letter from\nthe Ebonyi State Government for her Excellence Performance in the discharge of\nher administrative duties.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201c<strong>Dr.\nUgochi Pauline Onyeka:<\/strong> Served in INEC and rose through the ranks\nfor 20 years and became the Director ICT. The petition came without sworn\naffidavit and no evidence was found to validate the allegations, only cut-outs\nrelating to the allegation of being re-deployed based on affiliation to\npolitical parties copied from the internet were submitted by the petitioners.\nThere was no proof of her being suspended from INEC.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The 19\npersons whose nominations were approved by the Senate and their States are as\nfollows: <\/p>\n\n\n\n<ol class=\"wp-block-list\"><li>Ibrahim\nAbdullahi, mni &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; Adamawa\n&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; Renewal of Appointment<\/li><li>Obo O.\nEffanga &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; Cross\nRiver&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; Renewal of Appointment<\/li><li>Alh.\nUmar Ibrahim &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; Taraba&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; Renewal of Appointment<\/li><li>Dr.\nAgboke Mitiu Olaleke &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; Ogun&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; Renewal of Appointment<\/li><li>Prof.\nSamuel E. Egwu &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; Kogi&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; Renewal of Appointment<\/li><li>Onyeka\nPauline Ugochi &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; Imo&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; New Appointment<\/li><li>Prof.\nMuhammed Lawal Bashar &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; Sokoto&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; New Appointment<\/li><li>Prof.\nAyobami Salami &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; Oyo\n&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; New Appointment<\/li><li>Amb.\nZango Abdussamadu Abdu, mni&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; Katsina&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; New Appointment<\/li><li>Mrs.\nQueen Elizabeth Agwu &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; Ebonyi&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; New Appointment<\/li><li>Dr.\nAgunndu Oliver Tersoo &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; Benue&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; New Appointment<\/li><li>Yomere\nGabriel Oritsemlebi &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; Delta&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; New Appointment<\/li><li>Prof.\nYahaya Makarfi Ibrahim &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; Kaduna&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; New Appointment<\/li><li>Dr.\nNura Ali &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; Kano&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; New Appointment<\/li><li>Agu\nSylvia Uchenna &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; Enugu&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; New Appointment<\/li><li>Ahmed\nYushau Garki &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; FCT&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; New Appointment<\/li><li>Barr.\nHudu Yunusa, mni &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; Bauchi&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; New Appointment<\/li><li>Prof.\nUzochukwu Ikemefuna Chijioke&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; Anambra&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; New Appointment<\/li><li>Mohammad\nB. Nura &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; Yobe&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; New Appointment<\/li><\/ol>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Defying protests and petitions from civil society organisations, the Nigerian Senate on Wednesday, 5th October 2022 confirmed nineteen (19) persons nominated by President Muhammadu Buhari for appointment as Resident Electoral Commissioners for the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC). The Senate Committee on INEC \u00a0in its report, stated that it requested for and received security clearance [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":1026,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[11],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2934","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/placng.org\/Legist\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2934","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/placng.org\/Legist\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/placng.org\/Legist\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/placng.org\/Legist\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/placng.org\/Legist\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2934"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/placng.org\/Legist\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2934\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2946,"href":"https:\/\/placng.org\/Legist\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2934\/revisions\/2946"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/placng.org\/Legist\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1026"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/placng.org\/Legist\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2934"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/placng.org\/Legist\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2934"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/placng.org\/Legist\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2934"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}