The Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, has faulted the petition to recall Senator Natasha Akpoti-Uduaghan Uduaghan from the Senate by his Constituents – Kogi Senatorial District.
Led by a female Special Adviser to the Governor of Kogi State, they had stormed INEC Headquarters, Abuja, on Monday, carrying six bags containing the names of those who signed the recall petition. They were said to be over 250,000 out of the about 480,000 Constituents.
But in a release signed on behalf of INEC by Sam Olumekun, its National Commissioner and Chairman Information and Voter Education, INEC said the petitioners did not comply with some requirements needed to kick off the recall process.
For instance, the Commission said the representatives of the petitioners did not provide their contact addresses, telephone numbers and e-mail addresses in the covering letter forwarding the petition through which they can be contacted as provided in Clause 1(f) of INEC’s Regulations and Guidelines.
Following is the full text of INEC’s statement.
“PETITION FOR THE RECALL OF THE SENATOR REPRESENTING KOGI CENTRAL SENATORIAL DISTRICT
“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 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.”
Akpoti-Uduaghan’s hundreds of supporters in her Constuency had since dismissed most of the names attached to the petition as fake.
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