Senate Confirms 19 INEC Resident Electoral Commissioners Nominated By Buhari

What happened 

Following the nomination of 19 Recs by Mr. Buhari, a group of civil society organizations (CSOs) accused some of the nominees of being partisan.  

There had been calls from various quarters, including a senior advocate of Nigeria, Femi Falana, calling on the president to withdraw their nomination.  

Mr. Falana said, “After security clearance, the president is advised to comply with section 154(3) of the constitution by consulting with the council of state with respect to the qualification and competence of the nominees. It is after the consultation that the names of the nominees that are qualified should be presented to the Senate for confirmation.”

However, the senate, after considering the report of its Committee on INEC held that there was no substantial evidence to support the allegations against them. Consequently, they were confirmed.  

The names of the confirmed nominees include Onyeka Ugochi (Imo); Muhammad Bashir (Sokoto); Ayobami Salami (Oyo); Zango Abdu (Katsina); Queen Elizabeth Agwu (Ebonyi); Agundu Tersoo (Benue) Ibrahim Abdullahi (Adamawa); Obo Effanga (Cross River); Umar Ibrahim (Taraba); Agboke Olaleke (Ogun); and Samuel Egwu (Kogi). 

Others are: Yomere Oritsemlebi (Delta); Yahaya Ibrahim (Kaduna); Nura Ali (Kano); Agu Uchenna (Enugu); Ahmed Garki (FCT); and Hudu Yunusa (Bauchi);Mohammed Nura (Yobe) and Uzochukwu Chijioke (Anambra).