The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) said the petition submitted to it seeking the recall of Natasha Akpoti-Uduaghan, senator representing Kogi Central, did not meet the “requirements” for the recall.
INEC’s National Commissioner and Chairman, Information and Voter Education, Sam Olumekun, said in a statement on Tuesday that the petition from Kogi Central Senatorial District was accompanied by six bags of documents which contained signatures 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”.
However, the commission noticed some missing pieces in the petition.
One “immediate observation”, Olumekun said, was “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,” he said.
Olumekun 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”.
“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,” he said.
One such step would be “the verification of the signatures in each Polling Unit in an open process restricted to registered voters that signed the petition only”, Olumekun said.
Trouble started for Senator Natasha Akpoti-Uduaghan following an altercation with Senate President Godswill Akpabio on the floor of the Senate over seating arrangement. After she accused Akpabio of sexual harassment, she was subsequently suspended by the Senate for violating its rules. The move to recall her appears to be the next step in the onslaught.
