The Senate Committee on the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) on Thursday screened Lauretta Onochie, a personal assistant to President Muhammadu Buhari in consideration of her appointment as a commissioner of INEC.
The screening was done despite public outcry that she’s a member of the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) and would be partisan.
Responding to the criticisms that trailed her nomination and screening, Ms Onochie told the Senate that she resigned as a member of the ruling APC and also left active politics since the second election in 2019 that brought Mr Buhari into office.
“Since the 2019 elections, I have removed myself from active politics and even in the ongoing APC membership drive, I didn’t register and currently, I am not a member of any political party,” she said.
POLITICS NIGERIA, however, did a check on the verified twitter timeline of Ms Onochie and our findings revealed that she spoke about her ties with the party on June 24, 2020.
“There is DEFINITELY an APC e-NEC meeting TOMORROW. We are going through a growth process. Thank you everyone,” she posted on Twitter.
There is DEFINITELY an APC e-NEC meeting TOMORROW.
We are going through a growth process.
Thank you everyone. pic.twitter.com/mELOqnRuZm— Lauretta Onochie (@Laurestar) June 24, 2020
This newspaper also obtained an affidavit she swore to at the FCT High Court, Abuja and she stated in a paragraph that she is a member of the APC and was an active participant in a United Kingdom election where she also contested.
“I am also a member of the ruling All Progressives Congress and a volunteer at Buhari Support Organization,” part of the affidavit read.
Verdict
Based on available information, it is unarguable that Ms Onochie’s statement to the Senate on Thursday that she left active politics since 2019 is not true.
