Jungle Journalist Media Limited
  • News
  • Politics
  • Economy and Business
  • Sports
  • Editorial
  • Education
  • entertainment
  • Health
  • Niger Delta
  • Security
No Result
View All Result
  • News
  • Politics
  • Economy and Business
  • Sports
  • Editorial
  • Education
  • entertainment
  • Health
  • Niger Delta
  • Security
No Result
View All Result
Jungle Journalist Media Limited
No Result
View All Result
  • News
  • Politics
  • Economy and Business
  • Sports
  • Editorial
  • Education
  • entertainment
  • Health
  • Niger Delta
  • Security

Home » Opinions » OPINION: UNTOUCHED REASONS LAURETTA ONOCHIE SHOULDN’T BE INEC COMMISSIONER

OPINION: UNTOUCHED REASONS LAURETTA ONOCHIE SHOULDN’T BE INEC COMMISSIONER

by Jungle Journalist
July 11, 2021
8
SHARES
76
VIEWS
Share on FacebookShare on TwitterShare on WhatsApp

By Law Mefor

Democracy ought to be the rule of the majority, a system of Government where the will of the voting masses ultimately prevail.

In a democracy too, the will of the people finds expression in their ability to choose their leaders and representatives without interference or circumvention. This is what makes a free and fair election and those who superintend it, the most important components of a democracy and democratic governance.

Where votes do not count democracy is existing in such a place, only in name and not indeed. This foundation of democracy is standing trial at the moment in the Nigerian Senate. Watching the defence of Lauretta Onochie at the senate screening for her confirmation as INEC Commissioner, she cast quite a pathetic sight. Lauretta Onochie has become a metaphor of sorts, symbolising the mess that democracy has been made of in Nigeria. The nation has made progress in error in leaps and bounds. The fundamental principles and ethos of democracy are being assaulted and eroded to the point that each new election seems to be worse than the one that preceded it.

Otherwise, why should Lauretta Onochie’s nomination be an issue at all if the basic wisdom and tenets of democracy were actually followed? INEC is and means Independent National Electoral Commission. The key word is ‘independent’. The idea is that the electoral body (INEC) may be truly an umpire, unbiased, free and firm.

ReadAlso

Peter Obi: LP votes were transferred to APC, PDP scores left untouched – Peterside

Breaking: APC suspends Orji Kalu

Process is everything in an election. It is not the win or the loss that is so important but the process which led up to it and yielded the end result. Since 1999 when the nation returned to the current democratic dispensation, election litigations have been growing, each new election season progressively recording more aggrieved candidates at the elections going to court to challenge both pre-election and election matters. This can only mean one thing: the nation’s electoral system is not growing appreciably and not getting sanitised. Otherwise each new election circle should not be recording more aggrieved politicians going to court and tribunal to challenge the process and outcomes of elections in Nigeria.

One major source of imperfections in the nation’s electoral process is the role of the umpires – INEC and its officials – who have often been accused of compromise and complicity in electoral frauds. To ensure an unbiased INEC, the Nigerian federal government in 2007, under President Umaru Musa Yar’adua led government, constituted an electoral reform committee for electoral reforms. The Committee had to recommend removing the power of appointing the INEC Chairman from the President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria.

Members of INEC must not be encumbered by any form of partisan politics or interests, whether real or perceived. They are not to represent any political party or political interest. Lauretta Onochie belongs to a Ward in Aniocha Local Government of Delta State at least until recently. She claimed she had renounced her APC membership in 2019 and therefore was no longer partisan. But she remains an appointee of the APC government in charge of the Social Media and one of the spokespersons of the APC Government, a role she has played rather well and some say brazenly.

Some have argued that the nomination of Lauretta Onochie as an electoral umpire is in order and that she cannot be biased in an election in which APC is involved. This argument is weak and not supported by all known canons of proper political behaviour. No committed member of any political party can afford not to try to help his or her political party. It is psychological and apt with all humans. Even judges recuse themselves in cases where they have interest like where a family member is involved.

In fact, it is not about Lauretta Onochie. Any person who has once held membership of any political party cannot be an umpire in an election. The reason is that such a person is already a partisan actor, and partisanship does not allow individuals to be objective in their judgments where it comes to political parties’ issues, especially in elections. It’s like asking a politician to run the EFCC or ICPC, in the fight against corruption. Is the rat ever made a custodian of fish, its favourite meal?

It is said that justice must not only be done but must also seem to be done. This axiomatic statement also underscores the same essential factor. Public perception requires that those who are umpires must seem or appear so to the critical public. This also means that no matter how honest Onochie or anybody in her shoes would want to be, she will not come across to the Nigerian public as being honest in the discharge of her duties as an INEC Commissioner. This is perhaps the most important reason why she should not have been nominated in the first place let alone confirmed by the Nigerian Senate.

In the likely event that the Senate, which has been seen by most observers as rubberstamp, confirms her despite these observed odds, the senators should bear in mind that they have injured the credibility of elections further and will set a dangerous precedent, which will haunt the nation for years to come.

Lauretta Onochie is a dyed-in-the-wool All Progressives Congress (APC) member and President Muhammadu Buhari’s ace supporter. Her name appears as No2 on the Ward 4 Register of the APC in Aniocha Local Government Area of Delta state. So, it will go down in history that despite existing evidence, the Nigerian Senate, whose duty it is to stop such anomaly and absurdity, confirmed her as an electoral umpire. In the likely event that they confirm her, it will not be the first, nor will it be the last in the aberration called democracy in Nigeria.

After all, all it will take is a voice vote, which only the Senate President would hear.

· Dr. Law Mefor, a Forensic/Social Psychologist and Journalist, is a Research Fellow, The Abuja (Social and Political) School. Tel.: +234- 905 642 4375 E-mail: drlawmefor@gmail.com; follow me on tweeter:@LawMefor1.

Tags: APCINEC CommisionersLauretta Onochie
Share3Tweet2Send
Previous Post

Tokyo Olympics: Nigeria’s basketball stuns Team USA with rare victory

Next Post

A MUST READ! Reverend Ejike Mbaka and the Mad Lady from Nkerefi

You MayAlso Like

National

BREAKING: Alex Otti receives Certificate of Return, vows not to disappoint Abians 

March 29, 2023
National

DSS confirms plot to install interim government to stop Tinubu

March 29, 2023
Health

Uncertainty In Tinubu’s Camp Over President-elect’s Whereabouts, Health Condition

March 29, 2023
Editorial

Implications of Peter Obi’s petition, documenting Tinubu as one with drug-trafficker past

March 29, 2023
National

Uzuegbuna Okagbue Salutes President-Elect, Bola Tinubu at 71 Years  

March 29, 2023
Biafra

Finland – based IPOB factional leader threatens sit-at-home in Lagos 

March 29, 2023
Next Post

A MUST READ! Reverend Ejike Mbaka and the Mad Lady from Nkerefi

Discussion about this post

Recent Posts

  • BREAKING: Alex Otti receives Certificate of Return, vows not to disappoint Abians 
  • DSS confirms plot to install interim government to stop Tinubu
  • Uncertainty In Tinubu’s Camp Over President-elect’s Whereabouts, Health Condition
  • Kuda Bank suffers another technical glitch as customer accounts go to zero
  • US raises student, tourist visa fees by 15%
ADVERTISEMENT

Recent Comments

  • Ogbuenyi Sunday on Anambra police arrest river-bathing prophet ‘Onye Eze Jesus’
  • Stephen CE on List of international stars who have joined #EndSARS/#EndSWAT and what they said

Trending

VIDEO(VIEWERS DISCRECTION!) Day of rage as Nasarawa mothers go totally naked to protest guber result

Man purchases Prado Jeep for ‘upright’ Abia INEC Returning Officer

Imo-born Billionaire And Labour Party Guber Aspirant Found Dead After Meeting 

After Peter Obi, Ifeanyi Ugwuanyi, Chimaroke Nnamani adds Peter Mbah among those who betrayed him 

BREAKING: Two Killed As Unknown Gunmen Invade Security Checkpoint In Enugu 

Why they want me dead – Eholor 

CBN to flood banks with naira notes as NLC orders nationwide strike

ADVERTISEMENT

NDLEA Arrests Enugu Big Boy, Onyeze With Drugs Concealed In Air Freshener Packs At Lagos Airport   

Ekweremadu, wife, doctor guilty of organ trafficking to UK, to be sentenced to prison 

JUST IN: Supreme Court Sacks Oye, Reaffirms Edozie Njoku As APGA National Chairman 

    ADVERTISEMENT

    Popular Stories

    • BREAKING: Gunmen Take Over Onitsha-Owerri Road, Set Over 10 Vehicles, Goods Worth Billions Ablaze

      2683 shares
      Share 1073 Tweet 671
    • JUST IN: CBN Governor, Godwin Emefiele sacked

      1759 shares
      Share 704 Tweet 440
    • BREAKING: Finland police arrests Simon Ekpa 

      965 shares
      Share 386 Tweet 241
    • BREAKING: IReV Portal Shows Labour Party Won 19 States Plus FCT, PDP 8, APC 7, NNPP 2 States—Baba-Ahmed

      601 shares
      Share 240 Tweet 150
    • NEWS FLASH: Peter Mbah of PDP cruising to victory, wins 14 LGAs in Enugu guber polls 

      509 shares
      Share 204 Tweet 127
    • JUST IN: Daughter of Benin billionaire/CEO of Uyi Technical commits suicide

      460 shares
      Share 184 Tweet 115

    ABOUT US

    Jungle Journalist Media Limited

    Jungle Journalist Media Limited

    Jungle Journalist is an online news and information resource centre dedicated to accurate and timely news reports.

    Read More >>

    CONNECT WITH US

    SECTIONS

    • Agriculture
    • Aviation
    • Biafra
    • birthday
    • Bizarre
    • Breaking News
    • Building and Properties
    • Columnist
    • Community Reports
    • crime
    • Economy and Business
    • Editorial
    • Education
    • Election
    • electricity
    • entertainment
    • Health
    • Holidays
    • Human Rights
    • International
    • Interviews
    • Law
    • Magazine
    • media
    • Money
    • National
    • News
    • Niger Delta
    • North
    • Obituary
    • Oil and Gas
    • Opinions
    • Photos
    • Politics
    • Press Release
    • Religion and Culture
    • Science and Technology
    • Security
    • South East
    • South-South
    • South-West
    • Sports
    • Transport and Aviation
    • Violence
    • Women and Children
    • Worship
    • Youth
    No Result
    View All Result

    NEWS SOURCES

  • Punch
  • Nigerian Tribune
  • The Nation
  • Thisday
  • DailyTrust
  • The Sun
  • Daily Independent
  • PM News
  • Vanguard
  • Premium Times
  • Sahara Reporters
  • The Guardian
  • Leadership
  • Daily Times Of Nigeria
    • About
    • Advertise With Us
    • Privacy Policy

    © 2021 Jungle Journalist Media Limited - Web Designed by AfeesHost.

    No Result
    View All Result
    • News
    • Politics
    • Economy and Business
    • Sports
    • Editorial
    • Education
    • entertainment
    • Health
    • Niger Delta
    • Security

    © 2021 Jungle Journalist Media Limited - Web Designed by AfeesHost.