The Senate has rejected the nomination of Lauretta Onochie as a National Commissioner of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC).
On Tuesday, the Chairman of the Senate committee on INEC, Kabiru Gaya, presented a report, saying Onochie did not satisfy the provisions of the Federal Character Principles.
The Senate at the committee of the whole subsequently voted against her nomination.
In his presentation, Gaya also said the Committee received several petitions against the nominations of Onochie and Professor Sani Muhammad Adam.
He revealed that the petitions against Lauretta Onochie were against the backdrop that her involvement in politics and alleged membership of a political party.
Recall that the leadership of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) had stormed the National Assembly to protest against the screening of Onochie. The nominees were screened on Thursday at the senate wing of the National Assembly by the senate committee on Independent National Electoral Commission.
On Tuesday, while the Senate rejected Onochie after considering the details of its Committee on INEC, the appointment of five National Commissioners for the nation’s electoral umpire were confirmed.
The nominees who were confirmed are, Prof. Muhammad Sani Kallah (Katsina); Prof. Kunle Ajayi ( Ekiti); and Saidu Ahmad (Jigawa), Baba Bila (North East) and Abdullahi Zuru (North- West).
However, the Senate also rejected the nomination of Professor Sani Adam from North Central because of the petitions against him.
