By TEMIDAYO AKINSUYI, Lagos

Monday Ubani, a former Second Vice President of the Nigerian Bar Association (NBA) has condemned the appointment of Lauretta Onochie, Special Assistant on Social Media to President Muhammadu Buhari as a National Commissioner of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC).

Speaking in a chat with INDEPENDENT, Ubani said the appointment of Onochie, a partisan, card-carrying member of the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC), into an electoral commission that is expected to be unbias is an indication that President Buhari is not committed to giving Nigerians free, fair and credible elections.

He said: “If it is true that President Buhari has appointed that woman as an INEC commissioner, then something is fundamentally wrong somewhere. What it means is that there is no intention by the President to guarantee a free and fair election by this administration. If you are mouthing free and fair election, then the issue of recruiting people who are the umpire is very important.

“You cannot bring in somebody of such nature; somebody who is very political as a member of an umpire that is supposed to be unbias. I, Ubani, staked my name and reputation to ensure that President Buhari was elected. I ran down the former administration and enjoined Nigerians to vote for President Buhari because he promised to do things better.

“If President Buhari, with the knowledge of things he knows about this country, appoints that woman as an INEC commissioner, who again am I going to believe in this country that is coming to change the way of doing things?

“By this appointment, what the President has done is that we can all go to hell. It is not about the interest of this nation and it is something that is very condemnable. To say that I’m not disappointed with the appointment of that woman as INEC commissioner, then I will be lying. It is very unfortunate,” he said. (Daily Independent)