The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) has pointed out some flaws in the petition for the recall of the Senator representing Kogi Central Senatorial District, Mrs. Natasha Akpoti-Uduaghan.
Thelensng reports that the Senate on March 6, suspended Senator Akpoti-Uduaghan for 6 months following her allegations of sexual harassment against the Senate President, Mr. Godswill Akpabio as well as refusing to stand up for his entrance, which were deemed infractions of the Senate’s rules and code of conduct.
However, the development has escalated with the Senator reporting the situation to organisations across the world, while her constituents are calling for her recall.
The judge in charge of the case, Justice Obiora Egwuatu earlier today withdrew from the case, citing a petition from the Senate President about his impartiality.
Reacting to the petition for Senator Akpoti-Uduaghan’s recall in a statement on Tuesday, INEC disclosed that the petitioners’ information is incomplete, making it impossible to contact them, which contradicts the Commission’s regulations and guidelines.
“The Commission held its regular weekly meeting today, Tuesday 25th March 2025. Among other issues, the meeting discussed the petition for the recall of the Senator representing Kogi Central Senatorial District.
“The process of recall is enshrined in the 1999 Constitution, the Electoral Act 2022 as well as the Commission’s detailed Regulations and Guidelines for Recall 2024, available on our website. All petitions will be treated in strict compliance with the legal framework.
“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 statement partly reads.
The electoral body reiterated 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.
It explained that once the petition meets the requirements of submission, as contained in its regulations, the Commission shall commence the verification of the signatures in each Polling Unit in an open process restricted to only registered voters that signed the petition.
“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,” INEC stated.
The Commission reassured the public that it will be guided by the legal framework for recall, and urged them to discountenance speculations and insinuations on social media.
