The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) has said that the petition for the recall of Senator Natasha Akpoti-Uduaghan, representing Kogi Central Senatorial District, did not meet the necessary submission requirements.
In a statement on Tuesday, INEC confirmed receiving the petition on Monday, said to have been signed by over 250,000 constituents from Kogi Central.
However, the commission stated that the petition failed to meet the stipulated guidelines outlined in its 2024 Regulations and Guidelines for Recall.
According to INEC, the petitioners’ submission lacked contact details, including exact address, telephone numbers, and email addresses of all representatives, which are mandatory requirements under Clause 1(f) of the regulations.
The electoral umpire added that the cover letter accompanying the petition only provided “Okene, Kogi State,” and a single telephone number belonging to the lead petitioner.
The statement signed by Sam Olumekun, INEC’s National Commissioner and Chairman of Information and Voter Education Committee, partly reads: “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 that 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 the 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.
The senator, who was elected on the platform of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), had earlier accused Senate President Godswill Akpabio of sexual harassment.
Akpabio, however, denied the allegation.
During the petition submission, Charity Omole, a representative of the petitioners, said the recall was necessary to ensure continuous representation for Kogi Central in the Senate.
“We have come to recall her so that we can have a representative in the senate. We are here to tell lNEC to please follow the constitutional process for a recall so that a recall process can begin,” Omole said.
“We submitted the petition and it has been received. All other documents have been received.”
She added, “We are the ones that voted for her and we don’t want her anymore because we cannot afford not to have a representative. Nobody is bankrolling us. Nobody is having any personal issue with her. It is just what it is. The game is the game.”
