BREAKING: INEC Rejects Natasha’s Recall Petition Again

The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) has for the second time rejected a petition to recall the Senator representing Kogi Central, Natasha Akpoti-Uduaghan.

INEC announced in a tweet on Thursday that the petition still “has not met the requirement of Section 69(a) of the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria 1999 (as amended).”

THE WHISTLER reports that Section 69 of the 1999 Constitution stipulates that “A member of the Senate or of the House Representatives may be recalled as such a member if –

“(a) there is presented to the Chairman of the Independent National Electoral Commission a petition in that behalf signed by more than one-half of the persons registered to vote in that member’s constituency alleging their loss of confidence in that member; and

“(b) the petition is thereafter, in a referendum conducted by the Independent National Electoral Commission within ninety days of the date of receipt of the petition, approved by a simple majority of the votes of the persons registered to vote in that member’s constituency.”

INEC had similarly rejected the petition last week on the grounds that it did not meet the necessary submission requirements.

Sam Olumekun, INEC’s National Commissioner and Chairman of Information and Voter Education Committee, had earlier said: “The petition from Kogi Central Senatorial District was accompanied by six bags of documents said to be signatures collected from over half of the 474,554 registered voters spread across 902 Polling Units in 57 Registration Areas (Wards) in the five Local Government Areas of Adavi, Ajaokuta, Ogori/Magongo, Okehi and Okene.

“The Commission’s immediate observation is that the representatives of the petitioners did not provide their contact address, telephone number(s), and e-mail address(es) in the covering letter forwarding the petition through which they can be contacted as provided in Clause 1(f) of our Regulations and Guidelines. The address given is “Okene, Kogi State,” which is not a definite location for contacting the petitioners. Only the telephone number of “the lead petitioner” is provided as against the numbers of all the other representatives of the petitioners.

“The Commission wishes to reiterate that the recall of a legislator is the prerogative of registered voters in a constituency who sign a petition indicating loss of confidence in the legislator representing them. Once the petition meets the requirements of submission, as contained in our regulations, the Commission shall commence the verification of the signatures in each polling unit in an open process restricted to registered voters who signed the petition only. The petitioners and the member whose recall is sought shall be at liberty to nominate agents to observe the verification, while interested observers and the media will also be accredited. At each polling unit, signatories to the petition shall be verified using the Bimodal Voter Accreditation System (BVAS).

“Consequently, if the petitioners fully comply with the requirements of Clause 1(f) of the Regulations and Guidelines regarding the submission of their petition, the Commission will announce the next steps in line with the extant laws, regulations, and guidelines. In the absence of a definite contact address, the Commission is making efforts to use other means to notify the representatives of the petitioners of the situation.

“The Commission reassures the public that it will be guided by the legal framework for recall. The public should therefore discountenance any speculations and insinuations in social media.”

The recall effort against Akpoti-Uduaghan followed her suspension from the Senate on March 6 over allegations of “gross misconduct” after a dispute over seating arrangements.