President Muhammadu Buhari has again nominated a card-carrying member of the All Progressives Congress as a commissioner for the Independent National Electoral Commission.
Last month, Buhari announced his choice of Rhoda Gumus, an engineering professor at Niger-Delta University, to replace Lauretta Onochie, his social media aide.
The replacement followed controversies generated by Onochie’s nomination, which was hinged on her party affiliation.
The Nigerian Senate rejected her nomination.
But on December 14, Buhari asked the Senate to confirm Gumus as Onochie’s replacement for INEC commissioner representing the South-South geopolitical zone.
However, Gumus’ registration documents sighted by SaharaReporters confirms she is a member of the ruling party.
The nomination is in breach of the 1999 constitution as amended and the Electoral Act.
According to the document, she became a member of the APC on March 27, 2021.
Her membership number is 58315.
Meanwhile, Human Rights Writers Association of Nigeria, has delivered a petition against Gumus’ nomination.
HURIWA in a petition dated January 26, 2022 and signed by its National Coordinator, Emmanuel Onwubiko, addressed to the Senate President Ahmad Lawan, Deputy Senate President Ovie Omo-Agege and Speaker Femi Gbajabiamila, urged the National Assembly to reject her nomination in the interest of the country.
The rights group warned the National Assembly to guard against the confirmation of Gumus so as not to set the stage for a very huge political crisis capable of derailing the country’s democratic process.
