APC Appeals to Senate to Ignore PDP’s Rejection of Lauretta Onochie….

Since the nomination of Mrs Laureta Onoche, aide to President Muhammadu Buhari which has been generating reactions across the length and breadth of Nigeria, the All Progressives Congress, APC has appealed to the Senate to ignore the opposition PDP’s call for her rejection.

The APC in a statement by its Deputy National Publicity Secretary and spokesman, Yekini Nabena, noted that such attempt to pillory her reputation through unwarranted and rash criticism was borne out of misplaced intention.

He said: ” Buhari’s appointment of Laureta Onochie as a national electoral commissioner for the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) has been subjected to rash, subjective, misplaced and selective criticism by the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and some interest groups.

Perhaps the PDP needs to be reminded that one of its card-carrying members, Dr. Johnson Alalibo is the current Edo State Resident Electoral Commissioner (REC) Alalibo, who was also a former Deputy Whip in the Bayelsa State House of Assembly has been an electoral asset to the PDP but that is an issue to be addressed another day.

Nabena said the 9th Senate must endeavour to stand by facts, by refusing to be deceived by the PDP”s descent to cheap blackmail.

According to him, ” We urge the patriotic 9th Senate to stick with the facts and issues by ignoring the PDP’s grandstanding, cheap blackmail, baseless and subjective allegations of partisanship it is sponsoring against Ms Onochie. For the PDP, Ms Onochie’s capacity and effectiveness as a public servant and senior social media proffesional amounts to partisanship.

” Since public service now equates ‘partisanship’ we invite the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) to equally fault appointment of Prof. Mahmood Yakubu, the current INEC Chairman who was the immediate-past Executive Secretary of the government’s Tertiary Education Trust Fund (TETFUND) as well as the earlier stated Dr. Johnson Alalibo.

APC however query the PDP for not challenging the appointment of previous PDP apologist which is a publuc knowledge noting that they couldn’t have just woken from their sleep after setting the precedence for nomination of individuals.

” We equally invite the PDP to query the ‘unquestionable integrity’ of brazen PDP apologists such as Festus Okoye, National Commissioner and Chairman, Information and Voter Education Committee of INEC; Mike Igini, Resident Electoral Commissioner (REC) for Akwa Ibom State, among others.

“We challenge the PDP to point to any of its defunct 16-year administrations that defended and guaranteed the Executive arm of government’s non-interference in INEC’s operation and the true independence of the electoral commission as President Buhari’s government has done”, he stated.