Attahiru Jega, former chairman of the Independent National
Electoral Commission (INEC), has advised against the appointment of Lauretta
Onochie as a commissioner of the electoral body.
He said the controversy surrounding her nomination is not
good for the integrity of elections she may oversee, if she is confirmed.
Many Nigerians have opposed the nomination on the grounds
that Onochie is partisan and a member of the All Progressives Congress (APC).
But when she appeared before the senate screening committee
on Thursday, Onochie said contrary to public claims, she does not belong to any
political party.
Commenting on the saga, Jega said it is likely that any
election she supervises that involves the APC will “still generate
controversy”.
Speaking during an interview on Politics Today on Sunday,
Jega advised President Muhammadu Buhari to withdraw her nomination.
He said: “This kind of controversy is really avoidable. Any
person who generated such a controversy, the appointing authorities should be
careful because you don’t want to appoint anybody that can raise suspicions or
doubts or can lead to a loss of trust of the electoral management body.
“I’m sorry to say that from some of the documents that I
have been privileged to see, both about her British citizens and the very
active participation in a political party up until 2019, you will try to avoid
appointing such people into an electoral commission — because it can generate
controversy.
“To be honest, the president can also withdraw that
nomination. After all, there are so many women with credibility, with capacity,
competence in both Delta and across Rivers, so why bring someone that will
generate controversy and raise suspicions about the intention of the
appointment.”
Jega also criticised the move by the national assembly
leadership to block the proposed electronic transmission of election results.
He said denying INEC the opportunity will be
counterproductive and will undermine future elections.
Jega said: “When one looks at the draft of the electoral
bill currently in circulation, which the national assembly hopes to pass before
they go on recess, with regards to utilisation of technology, there is a very
contradictory provision there. While they permitted INEC to use electronic
voting, they now said provided that INEC does not use electronic transmission
of results. It is really counterproductive.
“Electronic transmission will ensure that the traditional
fraudulent activities of changing results from the collation centres will now
be things of the past, so it is very important that our lawmakers recognise how
important it is.
“And frankly, not permitting electronic transmission of results will even create an impression that the legislators are afraid and unconcerned about the integrity of results.”
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