Senator Natasha Akpoti-Uduaghan, representing Kogi Central, has criticized the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) for not immediately dismissing the petition seeking her recall, claiming that the commission’s response indicates bias.
INEC, in a statement released on Tuesday, confirmed receiving the petition, which reportedly included signatures from over half of the 474,554 registered voters in the senatorial district.
However, INEC pointed out that the petition lacked crucial information, such as the contact addresses, phone numbers, and email addresses of the petitioners, which are required under the Commission’s Regulations and Guidelines for Recall 2024.
In response, Akpoti-Uduaghan, through her lawyer Victor Giwa, in a letter dated March 26, accused INEC of compromising its neutrality by providing guidance to the petitioners instead of declaring the petition invalid due to its procedural deficiencies.
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.”
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Senator Akpoti-Uduaghan argued that INEC’s impartial stance should have been demonstrated by declaring the petition defective, thereby terminating the recall 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.”
Senator Akpoti-Uduaghan also highlighted that the addresses listed in the petition were solely from Okene, Kogi State, implying that the purported signatures did not accurately represent the entire Kogi Central 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 declining.
We still believe that the Commission will act rightly”.
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