Esther Salifu
The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) has rejected a petition seeking the recall of Senator Natasha Akpoti-Uduaghan, representing Kogi Central Senatorial District.
The petition, which was submitted with six bags of documents containing signatures from over half of the 474,554 registered voters in the district, was deemed incomplete due to the lack of contact information for the petitioners .
According to INEC, the petitioners failed to provide their contact address, telephone numbers, and email addresses, as required by Clause 1(f) of the Commission’s Regulations and Guidelines for Recall 2024. The address provided, “Okene, Kogi State”, was deemed insufficient for contacting the petitioners.
In a press statement signed by Sam Olumekun, National Commissioner and Chairman of the Information and Voter Education Committee stated
“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,”
“Once the petition meets the requirements of submission, as contained in our regulations, the Commission shall commence the verification of the signatures in each Polling Unit in an open process restricted to registered voters that signed the petition only.”
INEC has reassured the public that it will be guided by the legal framework for recall and has urged the public to disregard any speculation or insinuation on social media. The Commission is making efforts to notify the petitioners of the situation, despite the lack of contact information .
