The screening of Lauretta Onochie by the Nigerian senate as INEC Federal Commissioner-nominee has been generating controversy among many concerned Nigerians.

The controversy is mainly because she is the Personal Assistant on Social Media to Nigeria President Muhammadu Buhari – meaning she is one of the President’s loyalists and also a card carrying member of the APC, the president’s party.

Onochie was nominated by President Muhammadu Buhari for the position of national commissioner of INEC in October 2020.

But on Thursday 8 July, 2021 when Onochie appeared before the Nigerian Senate for screening, she said:

She is no longer a card carrying member of the ruling APC or is partisan.

Last week, Nigeria’s main opposition part, PDP protested Lauretta Onochie’s nomination at the National Assembly.

INEC – Independent National Electoral Commission – is Nigeria’s election office saddled with the responsibility of conducting general elections and announcing results.

If her screening scale through, she will rep south south region as one of the senior election officials in the country.

The last time there was this sort of concern regarding Nigeria’s election body was when the then Buhari, as opposition candidate, contested to be president in 2003.

During his election tribunal, he raised concerns that President Olusegun Obasanjo’s government had appointed card carrying members of PDP into INEC.

The Supreme Court in the ensuing case of Buhari v. Obasanjo in 2005 ruled that time that the Inec commissioners being PDP members is not sufficient to lead to the conclusion that were biased.

Who is Lauretta Onochie?

She described herself as an experienced consultant with a demonstrated history of working in education management industry.

Lauretta Onochie is a Nigerian educationist that was based in England before she returned home to work for president Buhari. She works as one of Buhari’s aides on new media.

Lauretta Onochie education background

Lauretta Onochie did her Post Graduate focused in Post Compulsory Education and Training from University of Greenwich from 2004 to 2005.

She attended University of Calabar where she studied elementary education.

She also attended University of Benin where she graduated with another degree in Business Education.

Onochie attended primary and secondary schools in Calabar.

The Post Compulsory Education and Training PCET is a professional teacher education programme which qualifies candidates to teach in post compulsory education and training sector.

Lauretta Onochie has also completed two certificate programs from Harvard University, one in Humanitarian Response To Conflict And Disaster, and the other in Health Effects Of Climate Change.

Lauretta Onochie biography

Lauretta Onochie is an indegine of Delta State.

Between 2005 and 2011, Lauretta Onochie bin served as lecturer at the New City College – Epping Forest Campus.

Thereafter she became a consultant for AfricaFirst.

She occupied that office until she got appointment as Personal Assistant to President Muhammadu Buhari in 2016.

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President Muhammadu Buhari’s latest trip to the UK has been postponed.

“The medical follow-up visit of President Muhammadu Buhari to the United Kingdom which was scheduled for today, Friday, June 25, 2021, has been postponed,” Femi Adesina, the President’s aide on media and publicity wrote on Facebook.

Adesina did not reveal any new date for the trip, but said it will be announced “soon”.

This won’t be the first time this year Buhari will be planning a trip to a foreign country to go do medical check-up.

The reason why Mr Buhari’s trip to UK was cancelled is not clear yet, but it comes on the same day some people in the UK are holding a peaceful rally against what they describe as the wrong treatment and the wanton killings of Igbos in Nigeria.

Buhari’s many ‘foreign’ treatments and medical check-ups

The 78-year-old president has traveled abroad many times for medical reasons throughout his presidency, but his administration has never for once revealed the true nature of Buhari’s illness.

This has made many Nigerians to accuse president Buhari of being insensitive for always traveling for treatment abroad when his own country’s public health system is weak.

2016 Buhari London trip

Eight months after Muahmmadu Buhari became Nigeria’s president – on February 5, 2016, he traveled to London for his first holiday and returned on February 10, 2016.

From 13th to 15th May, 2016, Buhari attended the first ever Anti-corruption summit in London with many heads of state from around Africa also in attendance.

6th to 19th July, 2016 Buhari went back to London on Sick leave.

2017 Buhari London trip

7th May to 13th August 20, 2017 Buhari was in London on sick leave again. After this trip, rumors began online that the president has died and was replaced with a clone.

He was forced to prove that he was not a clone telling a press conference “this is the real me, I assure you.”

21 to 25th September, 2017 the 78 year old Nigerian leader takes another trip to London on holiday.

2018 Buhari London trip

9th to 19th April, 2018 Muhammadu Buhari was in London for the meetings of Commonwealth Nations.

1st to 2nd May, 2018 Mr Buhari went to London on transit.

8th to 18th May, 2018, the Nigerian President visited London to see his doctors.

3rd to 13th August, 2018 Buhari was in London for holiday.

2019 Buhari London trip

25th April to 5th May, 2019 President Buhari was on a private trip to London

President Muhammadu Buhari travel to United Kingdom for ‘private visit’ from 2nd till 17th November 2019.

2020 Buhari London trip

The nigerian president departs Abuja for London to participate in the first UK-Africa Investment Summit which happened on 20 January, 2020.

2021 Buhari UK trip

President Muhammadu Buhari of Nigeria takes off to London for medical check up on 30th March, 2021 for two weeks.

No public records in Nigeria has shown who is paying for all these private visits of President Muhammadu Buhari.

But experts say Buhari’s UK trip funding is most likely coming from Nigerian tax payers.

The exact sickness or health challenge the 78 year old president is always traveling to London to treat, has not been made public.

Both the government of Nigeria and Buhari’s family have kept the matter private.

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According to Buhari, providing adequate security and livelihood is a debt of gratitude he owed Nigerians for giving him the opportunity to serve.

Speaking in Borno State on Thursday, June 17, the President said, “My commitment to serve Nigerians is a payback for the love shown to me. I started my political adventure in Maiduguri and I always look forward to coming here.”

The president is was speaking during his one day working visit to Borno state, north-eastern Nigeria on Thursday.

The state governor, Babagana Zulum says the president is visiting to “assess the security situation and inaugurate some of the projects” that both the federal and state governments have completed in the state.

Borno is the base of Boko Haram fighters who have been troubling the whole country for over 10 years now and is the state that has suffered most in Nigeria as far as insecurity is concerned.

Governor of the state Babagana Zulum, urged Borno residents to show support and behave orderly during the President’s visit.

According to a press release from the Borno State government, some of the things the president is expected to do during his visit include:

• To assess the security situation in the state
• To launch some projects that governor Zulum initiated
• Launch 4,000 out of the 10,000 houses that government wants to build for displaced people from Boko Haram war

The Borno government statement hailed Buhari for the 10,000 houses initiative that they say wille go a long way to help displaced people.

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The state governor, Babagana Zulum says the president is visiting to “assess the security situation and inaugurate some of the projects” that both the federal and state governments have completed in the state.

Borno is the base of Boko Haram fighters who have been troubling the whole country for over 10 years now and is the state that has suffered most in Nigeria as far as insecurity is concerned.

Governor of the state Babagana Zulum, urged Borno residents to show support and behave orderly during the President’s visit.

Youths booed Buhari in Maiduguri

During his last visit on 12 February, 2020 some youths shouted ‘Ba mayi’ ‘Ba mayi’ meaning ‘we don’t support’ ‘we don’t support’ as Buhari left the Shehu of Borno palace.

According to a press release from the Borno State government, some of the things the president is expected to do during his visit include:

• To assess the security situation in the state
• To launch some projects that governor Zulum initiated
• Launch 4,000 out of the 10,000 houses that government wants to build for displaced people from Boko Haram war
• The Borno government statement hailed Buhari for the 10,000 houses initiative that they say wille go a long way to help displaced people.

The ‘we don’t support’ shout that happened the last time

On 12th of February, 2020 as Buhari was leaving Shehu of Borno palace in the Yan Nono area of Maiduguri metropolis, some people start to shout ‘We don’t support’ in Hausa language as Buhari’s convoy is passing through.

On that occasion the president went to condole the people of Borno after a deadly attack by Boko Haram left many people dead.

That time Shehu Garba the president’s special adviser on media and publicity said those sharing the embarrassing video on social media didn’t do justice to the people of Borno who are very hospitable and kind to the president.

“I was on the trip and most the important thing is that most of the people welcomed and thanked us for things we are doing.” This is what Garba Shehu said during that episode.

For years, insecurity in Borno state, north east Nigeria, wrecked havoc in that part of the country with many citizens suffering in the hands of Boko Haram insurgents. This was why many people voted for Buhari in 2015; and still re-elect him in 2019 with up to 94% of their votes.

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Minister of Information and Culture, Lai Mohammed, announced the suspension in a statement citing the persistent use of the platform for activities that are capable of ‘undermining Nigeria’s corporate existence’.

PRESS RELEASE

FG Suspends @Twitter Operations in Nigeria pic.twitter.com/7z5BQ0Mi3U

— Fed Min of Info & Cu (@FMICNigeria) June 4, 2021

On Wednesday, one of President Muhammadu Buhari’s tweets was deleted from Twitter over complaints that he had threatened genocide against secessionists in the country’s southeast.

“Many of those misbehaving today are too young to be aware of the destruction and loss of lives that occurred during the Nigerian Civil War,” he tweeted.

“Those of us in the fields for 30 months, who went through the war, will treat them in the language they understand,” he wrote in what was taken as a warning of a fierce crackdown on rising violence across the country.

Twitter confirmed to Reuters that Buhari’s message was removed for violating its “abusive behavior” policy, also leading to a 12-hour suspension of his account.

Nigeria’s Information Minister Lai Mohammed was dismissive of Twitter’s action.

“Twitter may have its own rules, it’s not the universal rule,” he told reporters following the President’s suspension on Wednesday. “If Mr. President anywhere in the world feels very bad and concerned about a situation, he is free to express such views.”

Nigeria has seen a spate of arson attacks on electoral offices and police stations in recent weeks, especially in the southeast. Police officers have also been killed.

Authorities have blamed the attacks on a banned separatist group, the Indigenous People of Biafra and what the police call its armed wing, the Eastern Security Network. Both organizations has repeatedly denied involvement.

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President Muhammadu Buhari has been asked to suspend the Nigerian constitution and declare a state of emergency across the nation in an attempt to find a solution to widespread chaos and insecurity plaguing the nation, if a report on People’s Gazette is to be believed.

The online publication claims Attorney-General Abubakar Malami in a lengthy legal advice to the Nigerian president, urged him to move swiftly to suspend the fundamental rights of all Nigerians as guaranteed under Chapter IV of the Constitution.

“In the eight-page secret memo dated May 4, 2021, Mr Malami told Mr Buhari that insecurity across Nigeria has reached a level that could no longer be checked by existing democratic techniques, saying only a state of emergency promulgated by the president can help return the country to tranquillity,” the publication wrote.

Nigeria is witnessing widespread chaos that has gotten worse since Mr. Buhari became president in 2015.

Meanwhile, reacting to the above allegations which has since gone viral, a statement from the Attorney General’s office said the report should be disregarded by Nigerians.

The Minister denied asking the President to suspend the Nigerian constitution as a way out of insecurity in the country.

He described himself as a true democrat who believes in the rule of law and constitutional order.

“The Office of the Attorney-General of the Federation and Minister of Justice is a constitutionally recognised one with its role and responsibilities embedded in the constitution.

“It is antithetical to common sense to think that the holder of such coveted Office as the Attorney-General of the Federation and Minister of Justice will stoop to what was printed by the media.

“The government does not operate in secrecy as it is not a clandestine operation. Hence, Malami discharges his constitutionally recognised mandates in compliance with principles of transparency, openness and accountability.”

Read AGF Malami’s Statement in full

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Twitter has deleted a tweet in which Nigeria’s President Muhammadu Buhari appear to threaten separatists among the people of Igbo-dominated South-East.

In a statement issued by the office of President Muhammadu Buhari, who previously led Nigeria as a military ruler in the early 1980s, said “a rude shock” awaits “those bent on destroying the country through promoting insurrection, and burning down critical national assets”.

“Those of us in the fields for 30 months, who went through war, will treat them in the language they understand. We are going to be very hard sooner than later,” Buhari, who served in the army against the secessionists, was quoted as saying.

Many Nigerians interpreted Mr. Buhari’s tweet as a boast about the role he played alongside other Nigerian military officers in the Nigerian Civil War of 1966-70, during which over one million Igbo civilians were killed.

The president’s tweet followed widespread insecurity and attacks on public facilities blamed on a banned separatist group, the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB), and what police call its armed wing, the Eastern Security Network. But the IPOB has repeatedly denied involvement.

However, reacting to the development, Minister of Information and Culture, Lai Mohammed, on Wednesday accused Twitter, of double standards for deleting the post from its platform.

Speaking with State House correspondents at the Presidential Villa, Mohammed said Twitter had conveniently ignored inciting tweets by the leader of Indigenous People of Biafra, Nnamdi Kanu, and others.

He said Twitter’s role is suspicious and Nigeria would not be fooled.

He said, “Twitter may have its own rules, they are not the universal rules. If Mr President, anywhere in the world, feels very bad and concern about a situation, he is free to express such views.

“Now, we should stop comparing apples with oranges. If an organisation is proscribed, it is different from any other which is not proscribed.

“Two, any organisation that gives directives to its members, to attack police stations, to kill policemen, to attack correctional centres, to kill warders, and you are now saying that Mr President does not have the right to express his dismay and anger about that?

“They are the ones guilty of double standards. I don’t see anywhere in the world where an organisation, a person will stay somewhere outside Nigeria and will direct his members to attack the symbols of authority, the police, the military, especially when that organisation has been proscribed.

“By whatever name, you can’t justify giving orders to kill policemen or to kill anybody you do not agree with.”

President Muhammadu Buhari is the most popular African leader on Twitter with over 4 million followers.

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American news publication, ForeignPolicy.com has assessed Nigeria’s situation under President Muhammadu Buhari and declared the country “a failed state”.

In an opinion piece co-authored by John Cambell, a former American ambassador to Nigeria the influential magazine writes:
“Nigeria has long teetered on the precipice of failure. But now, unable to keep its citizens safe… Nigeria has become a fully failed state.

“This designation…is not a knee-jerk, casual labelling using emotive and pejorative words. Instead, it is a designation informed by a body of political theory.

“(A failed state) lacks security, is unsafe, has weak rules of law, is corrupt, limits political participation and voice, discriminates within its borders against various classes and kinds of citizens, and provides educational and medical services sparingly.

“Most of all, failed states are violent… Nigeria now confronts six or more internal insurrections and the inability of the Nigerian state to provide peace and stability to its people has tipped a hitherto very weak state into failure.”

Can any of us really claim that Nigeria does not meet that definition for a failed state?

It states: “Buhari’s administration came to power in 2015 and won reelection in 2019 with promises to clean up corruption. But Nigeria is as corrupt at every jurisdictional level as it has been for decades…

The piece also highlighted Nigeria’s leadership role in West-Africa but warned even that role is now under threat from state failure. It wrote:

“Its economy is usually estimated to be Africa’s largest or second largest, after South Africa. Long West Africa’s hegemon, Nigeria played a positive role in promoting African peace and security. With state failure, it can no longer sustain that vocation, and no replacement is in sight. Its security challenges are already destabilizing the West African region in the face of resurgent jihadism, making the battles of the Sahel that much more difficult to contain. And spillover from Nigeria’s failures ultimately affect the security of Europe and the United States.”

The article opined that there are four kinds of nations: the strong, the weak, the failed, and the collapsed. There are three places that should be considered collapsed: Somalia, South Sudan, and Yemen.

Nigeria made the failed states list due to the government’s inability to provide peace and stability for its citizens.

“According to political theory, the government’s inability to thwart the Boko Haram insurgency is enough to diagnose Nigeria as a failed state. But there are many more symptoms”, the article argued.

The article concluded by calling on president Muhammadu Buhari and the political class to restore security and a sense of safety to Nigeria’s citizens to prevent the nation from spiraling further into failure and despair.

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Herdsmen killed 50 people in Ebonyi. Boko Haram killed 7 soldiers. Bandits killed 60 people in the NW and NC. Unknown gunmen and the military killed at least 15 people killed. These happened in Nigeria this weekend. So, which peace is Buhari going to give to Mali? #TableShaker

— Reno Omokri (@renoomokri) June 1, 2021

In the first five months of 2021, Nigeria has recorded 1,016 attacks, 1,437 deaths of civilians, while 2,276 persons have been kidnapped.

In addition to all these, secessionists and criminal gangs in the southeast are constantly attacking police stations and burning down INEC offices in the region.

This has led some Nigerians to doubt if the general elections scheduled for 2023 will happen.

In an online pole by Vanguard, 23% of respondents say they don’t think the general elections should take place altogether.

Should 2023 elections hold amid the incessant attacks on INEC offices in the South?

— Vanguard Newspapers (@vanguardngrnews) May 31, 2021

But what happens if the country can’t hold elections in 2023? The constitution said;

What this means is President Muhammadu Buhari can stay in office indefinitely until security improves! All he has to do is renew his mandate every six months from the Ahmed Lawan led National Assembly.

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He admitted that nothing is wrong with Nigeria as a country and Nigerians as a people, but blamed Buhari for how things have turned out in recent times.

In a tweet, he wrote: “Nothing is wrong with Nigeria as a country and Nigerians as a people. Buhari is the national mishap and the Jonah in our boat. This insecurity is one too many and painfully, Nigerians will have to endure till 2023. I pray God keeps us till then.”

Nothing is wrong with Nigeria as a country and Nigerians as a people.
Buhari is the national mishap and the Jonah in our boat.
This insecurity is one too many and painfully, Nigerians will have to endure till 2023. I pray God keeps us till then.

— Peter Ayodele Fayose (@GovAyoFayose) May 30, 2021

In 2015, Fayose and Buhari were on opposite sides of that year’s general elections.

Fayose, a chieftain of the ruling PDP supported the then incumbent Goodluck Jonathan who lost to Muhammadu Buhari of the APC.

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