President Muhammadu Buhari has nominated his Personal Assistant on new media, Ms. Lauretta Onochie, as chairman of the Board of the Niger Delta Development Commission, NDDC.
Buhari, in a letter addressed to the Senate President, Dr. Ahmed Lawan, also announced the nomination of 15 others as NDDC board members.
The letter, which was read at Wednesday plenary, requested the Senate to confirm the nominees.
The 15 others nominated as board members of the commission include: Samuel Ibukun (Managing Director), Charles Ehigie Airhiavbere, Director of Finance; Charles Ogunmola, Director of Project; Dimgba Erugba (Abia), Ene Wilcox (Akwa Ibom), Pius Odudu (Edo), Gbenga Odegba (Ondo), Anthony Ekene (Imo) and Onyekachi Dimgba (Rivers).
Others are Mohammed Kabiru Abubakar (Nasarawa), Tallen Mamma (Adamawa) and Sodique Sani.
The Crest recalls that Buhari had, in October 2020, nominated Onochie as National Commissioner of Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) to represent Delta State.
Her nomination was greeted with massive outrage, with many opposition politicians and civil society groups calling for her rejection on the grounds that she was too partisan to serve in a sensitive institution like INEC.
She was also accused of being a card-carrying member of All Progressives Congress, a claim she denied three times during her screening.
The Senate rejected her nomination based on the federal character principle.
The chairman of the screening panel, Senator Kabiru Gaya said there was currently a serving commissioner of INEC from Delta State, where Onochie hails from, and confirming her appointment would violate constitutional provision.
