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Senate confirms 19 INEC RECs nominated by Buhari

The Nigerian Senate has confirmed 19 nominees appointed by President Muhammadu Buhari as Resident Electoral Commissioners (RECs) for the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC).

The nominees were confirmed following the overruling of petitions against some of the nominees on Wednesday during plenary.

President Buhari had in July forwarded the names of the nominees to the senate seeking their confirmation pursuant to Section 154 (1) of the 1999 Constitution Nigeria (as amended).

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).