The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) on Wednesday confirmed it has received the contact details of the petitioners’ representatives in the recall process of the senator representing Kogi Central, Natasha Akpoti-Uduaghan.

According to a statement by the National Commissioner and Chairman, Information and Voter Education Committee, Sam Olumekun, a letter containing the telephone numbers, email addresses, and other contact information of the petitioners’ representatives was submitted on Wednesday to the commission’s Chairman, Prof. Mahmood Yakubu.

INEC had on Tuesday confirmed the receipt of a petition from Kogi Central Senatorial District seeking to recall Senator Natasha Akpoti-Uduaghan but faulted the petition for failing to provide the necessary contact information of the petitioners as required under the Commission’s Regulations and Guidelines for Recall 2024.

On Wednesday, the commission said it has formally written to Senator Natasha Akpoti-Uduaghan notifying her of the receipt of the petition.

“As provided in Clause 2(a) of the Commission’s Regulations and Guidelines for Recall 2024, a letter has been written to notify the Senator sought to be recalled about the receipt of the petition and delivered to her official address,” Olumekun said in the statement.

“The same letter has been copied to the presiding officer of the Senate and published on the commission’s website,” he said.

The statement added that the next phase of the process would involve a thorough examination of the list of signatories provided by the petitioners.

INEC will verify that the petition has been endorsed by more than 50 per cent of registered voters in the Kogi Central Constituency.

The outcome of the verification would be made public in the coming days and would determine the subsequent steps in the recall procedure.

Meanwhile, Senator Natasha Akpoti-Uduaghan on Wednesday accused INEC of compromising its neutrality by offering guidance to the petitioners instead of declaring the petition seeking her recall incompetent due to its procedural flaws.

This followed INEC’s statement on Tuesday pointing out the failure of the petitioners to fulfill all the requirements in filing their petition.

“Your position as disclosed in your press release on March 25, 2025, signed by Sam Olumekun shows that the Commission has taken sides and has become partial in favour of the Petitioners in this case,” Senator Akpoti-Uduaghan said in a letter through her lawyer, Victor Giwa, dated March 26.

“The Commission has observed that the Petitioners’ Petition did not meet the threshold of the requirement of a Petition to recall a member, having not contained the required contact addresses, telephone numbers and email addresses in their covering letter forwarding the Petition as contained in Clause 1(f) of INEC Regulation and Guideline. The proper thing and step to have been taken is to declare the Petition as ‘incompetent’ and subsequently disregard same.

“Lawfully, the Commission is supposed to have declared the Petition as incompetent for being patently defective for the reasons stated above but surprisingly, the Commission, instead of disregarding the Petition for failure to meet the requirements, opted to take the role of an adviser to the Petitioners and so advised the Petitioners that once they provide the needed information that is not contained in the Petition by meeting the requirements, it shall commence the verification of the signatures in each polling units.

“We posit that the Commission has by this press release shown partisanship and partiality in favour of the Petitioner and has compromised the process.

“The proper step to take by the Commission, if the Commission will maintain its integrity and impartiality, is to declare the Petition as incompetent and defective and notify the Petitioners accordingly. Therefore, putting an end to this process at this stage,” she said.