YIAGA Africa berates Buhari over nomination of APC members as INEC RECs

A civil society group, YIAGA Africa, on   Monday, berated President Muhammadu Buhari over the nomination of members of the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) for confirmation by the Senate for appointment as Resident Electoral Commissioners in the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) in the preparations for the 2023 general election in Nigeria.

The Executive Director of YIAGA Africa, Samson Itodo, speaking on Channels Television on Monday protested that President Buhari’s nominations of APC members for Residential Electoral Commissioners appointment is an attempt to capture the Independent National Electoral Commission for political gain of the ruling party towards the 2023 general elections.

Itodo stated: “Nigerians need to know that there is an attempt to capture INEC.

“And this is not the first time. It started with an attempt to appoint Lauretta Onochie.”

Acknowledging the request of President Buhari in July to the senate for confirmation of 19 nominees as INEC RECs, Itodo declared that “those nominated by President Buhari have partisan leanings.”

The Executive Director of YIAGA Africa, had declared: “we are 179 days to the elections; RECs have not been confirmed. And you have now appointed people who have partisan leanings.

“The Senate needs to rise to the occasion by rejecting these nominees and ask the President to re-nominate. It is an aberration of the constitution.”

He asserted that the nominees would compromise INEC’s capacity to resist those who intend to circumvent the electoral process in 2023.

A coalition of Civil Society Organisations had protested the nominations, declaring in a statement: “Some of the nominees of the President fail the constitutional test of non-partisanship and unquestionable integrity.

“Evidence abounds that some of the nominees are either partisan, politically aligned, or previously indicted for corruption.

“To mention a few, Prof. Muhammad Lawal Bashir from Sokoto was a Governorship aspirant under the All Progressive Congress (APC) in the 2015 elections cycle.

“Mrs. Sylvia Uchenna Agu, the nominee for Enugu state, is believed to be the younger sister of the APC Deputy National Chairman, Southeast.

“The nominee for Imo State, Mrs. Pauline Onyeka Ugochi, a former Head of ICT at INEC in Imo State, gained notoriety for alleged corruption and connivance with politicians to undermine elections.

“Mrs. Queen Elizabeth Agwu, a former Accountant-General of the Ebonyi, was suspended allegedly on the grounds of incompetence and corruption in 2016.

“We contend that the appointment of these individuals as RECs will significantly undermine the neutrality and impartiality of the Independent National Electoral Commission, and it will increase mistrust in INEC and Nigeria’s electoral process.

“By the combined effect of Section 156 (1)(a) and Third Schedule, Part 1, Item F, paragraph 14 (1), these individuals are constitutionally prohibited from any appointment as members of INEC.”