Buhari Nominates Controversial Social Media Aide, Lauretta Onochie, 3 Others As INEC Commissioners

President Muhammadu Buhari has asked the senate to confirm Lauretta Onochie, his media aide, as a commissioner of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC).

Buhari’s request was contained in a letter read by Senate President Ahmad Lawan on the floor of the upper legislative chamber on Tuesday.

Onochie who is from Delta state is currently the president’s aide on social media.

She recently had a row on social media with Ayo Balogun, better known as Wizkid, after he called out the president for not taking action on the complaints of Nigerians protesting against police brutality.

The president premised his request on paragraph 14 (1f) of the constitution.

Apart from Onochie, Buhari also asked the senate to confirm Mohammed Sani (Katsina), Kunle Ajayi (Ekiti) and Seidu Ahmed (Jigawa) as commissioners of the electoral commission.

In another letter, Buhari asked the upper legislative chamber to confirm three nominees as executive directors of the Federal Roads Maintenance Agency (FERMA).

The nominees are Ifeanyi Christian (south-east), Muhammad Gambo (north-east) and Abubakar Ismaeel (north-west).

The president’s request for confirmation of the nominees will be referred to the appropriate committees to handle on Wednesday.