Senator Natasha Akpoti-Uduaghan, representing Kogi Central, has condemned the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) for failing to summarily dismiss a petition seeking her recall, asserting that the commission’s handling of the matter demonstrates partiality.
INEC, in a statement issued on Tuesday by National Commissioner and Chairman of the Information and Voter Education Committee, Sam Olumekun, acknowledged receipt of the petition, which purportedly bears signatures from over half of the 474,554 registered voters in the senatorial district.
However, the electoral body pointed out that the petition lacked mandatory details, including the contact addresses, phone numbers, and email addresses** of the signatories—a violation of INEC’s 2024 Regulations and Guidelines for Recall.
In a strongly worded rebuttal, Akpoti-Uduaghan, through her legal counsel, Victor Giwa, accused INEC of undermining its impartiality by providing procedural guidance to the petitioners instead of outrightly rejecting the legally deficient petition. The March 26 letter emphasized that the commission’s actions cast doubt on its neutrality and adherence to due process.
The letter partly reads, “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.
“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.”
The embattled lawmaker said the proper step INEC should have taken to show it was unbiased in the matter was to declare the petition defective, which would have brought an end to the process.
She added, “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.”
Akpoti-Uduaghan also pointed out that the addresses provided in the petition were limited to Okene, Kogi State, suggesting that the alleged signatures did not represent the entire senatorial district.
“Secondly, the address disclosed and provided in the petition according to your press release was Okene Kogi State, meaning that the two hundred and fifty signatories as contained in the petition came only from Okene, Kogi state, which seems more probable, ” She said.
She insisted that INEC’s decision to allow the petitioners to correct their errors rather than disqualifying the petition outright was a breach of due process, urging the commission to “do the needful and rebuild the public trust that is fast decline. We still believe that the Commission will act rightly”.
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