Senate President, Ahmad Lawan, today asked the Committee on the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) to screen Ms. Lauretta Onochie and five others as INEC commissioners.
This comes eight months after President Muhammadu Buhari sent the list of the nominees to the Senate.
The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) members in the Senate halted the process of the screening, accusing Onochie, who is presently a presidential spokesperson, of unnecessarily casting aspersions on their party.
They also faulted the idea of making Onochie, a card-carrying member of the All Progressives Congress as an INEC Commissioner to represent Delta State on the board of the commission.
Other names on the list are, Prof. Muhammad Kallah (Katsina); Prof. Kunle Ajayi (Ekiti); Saidu Ahmad (Jigawa); Prof Sani Adam (North- Central); and Dr Baba Bila (North-East).
The Senate INEC panel, which has Senator Kabiru Gaya as Chairman, has four weeks to conclude the screening and report back to the red chamber at plenary.