A personal assistant to President Muhammadu Buhari on social media, Lauretta Onochie has been making headlines over the last few days for declaring that she seized being a member of the All Progressives Congress, APC in 2019.

It would be recalled that controversy has trailed the nomination of Ms Onochie as a commissioner of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC). Despite public outcry that she is a member of the ruling APC and would be partisan, the Senate Committee on INEC proceeded with Ms Onochie's screening.

Responding to the criticisms that trailed her nomination and screening, Ms Onochie told the Senate that she resigned as a member of the ruling APC and also left active politics since the second election in 2019 that brought Mr Buhari into office.

"Since the 2019 elections, I have removed myself from active politics and even in the ongoing APC membership drive, I didn’t register and currently, I am not a member of any political party,” she said.

Erroneous affidavit goes viral

Shortly after her declaration, a sworn affidavit went viral on social media claiming that Ms. Onochie had declared under oath that she was a member of the APC. The affidavit had a stamp and signature, dated June 2021.

It was widely reported that she took the oath this year and apparently 'lied' to the senate.

However, checks by POLITICS NIGERIA reveal that Ms. Onochie did not swear to that affidavit in 2021 but in 2016. Her declaration was not done on June 30, 2021 as widely circulated in the viral affidavit but was sworn and admitted in court on February 3, 2016.

Ms Onochie swore in the affidavit that she is a member of the APC and was an active participant in a United Kingdom election where she also contested.

"I am also a member of the ruling All Progressives Congress and a volunteer at the Buhari Support Organization," part of the affidavit read.

A thorough check has shown that the widely circulated affidavit was not sworn to in 2021 but was part of her filings in a libel suit marked CV/852/16. Ms Onochie sought N1 billion in damages against one Emeka Ugwuonye.  She accused Mr Ugwuonye of defaming her when he referred to her as a trafficker of young girls for international prostitution, in a Facebook post made on January 21, 2016.

This newspaper's findings revealed that the June 30, 2021 date on the stamp is the date the Certified True Copy (CTC) of the document was obtained from court. A careful look at the affidavit revealed that it was indeed sworn to years ago as outrightly shown with Ms Onochie's signature under the passport attached.

It may very well be possible that she resigned membership of the party in 2019 as she claims but a viral tweet posted on her verified twitter timeline on June 24, 2020 casts some doubt.

In the tweet, she spoke about her ties with the party; "There is DEFINITELY an APC e-NEC meeting TOMORROW. We are going through a growth process. Thank you everyone,"

POLITICS NIGERIA has the complete five pages of the original affidavit with the signatory of the commissioner for oath dated February 3, 2016.