Nigeria, June 19 -- The Premium Times Centre for Investigative Journalism (PTCIJ), YIAGA Africa and nine other CSOs have written a petition to the Senate opposing the appointment of Lauretta Onochie as a commissioner for the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC).

In the petition, dated June 16 and addressed to the Chairman of the Senate Committee on INEC, Kabiru Gaya, the CSOs referred to Section 156(1)(a) of the 1999 Constitution which mandates that a person nominated as an INEC National Commissioner should be non-partisan.

Ms Onochie, who is currently a presidential aide, was appointed by President Muhammadu Buhari in October 2020 as an INEC commissioner to represent Delta State.

The president, in a letter to the Senate, a...