By John Audu.
The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) has announced that the recall petition for Senator Natasha Akpoti-Uduaghan, who represents the Kogi Central Senatorial District, is fraught with procedural errors.
This revelation emerged during INEC’s regular weekly meeting held on Tuesday in Abuja, where the petition against Akpoti-Uduaghan was a key topic of discussion.
Sam Olumekun, National Commissioner and Chairman of the Information and Voter Education Committee of INEC, issued a statement highlighting that the recall process is governed by the 1999 Constitution, the Electoral Act 2022, and the Commission’s comprehensive Regulations and Guidelines for Recall 2024. Olumekun assured that all petitions would be managed in strict adherence to the established legal framework.
According to OBSERVERS TIMES, a group of registered voters from Kogi Central recently submitted a petition to INEC, formally requesting the initiation of the recall process against the suspended senator. The petition was signed by Lead Petitioner Salihu Habib and delivered to INEC’s headquarters in Abuja, citing a loss of confidence in Akpoti-Uduaghan as their representative in the Senate.
During the meeting, INEC disclosed that the petition from Kogi Central was accompanied by six bags of documents, reportedly containing signatures gathered from over half of the 474,554 registered voters across 902 polling units in 57 registration areas within the local government areas of Adavi, Ajaokuta, Ogori/Magongo, Okehi, and Okene.
Olumekun noted, “The Commission’s immediate observation is that the representatives of the petitioners failed to provide their contact address, telephone numbers, and email addresses in the covering letter as mandated by Clause 1(f) of our Regulations and Guidelines. The only address listed is ‘Okene, Kogi State,’ which is not specific enough for us to contact them. Furthermore, only the lead petitioner’s phone number was provided, whereas our regulations require contact details for all petition representatives.”
“In light of the absence of a definitive contact address, the Commission is exploring alternative methods to inform the petitioners’ representatives of the situation. We want to reassure the public that we will strictly adhere to the legal framework governing recall processes. Therefore, any speculation or insinuations circulating on social media should be disregarded,” Olumekun concluded.
