Senator representing Kogi Central, Natasha Akpoti-Uduaghan, has accused the Independent National Electoral Commission of partiality in handling the petition seeking her recall.
She criticized the commission for not immediately dismissing the petition despite its failure to meet necessary procedural requirements.
INEC, in a statement on Tuesday signed by its National Commissioner and Chairman of the Information and Voter Education Committee, Sam Olumekun, confirmed receipt of the petition. The document reportedly bears signatures from more than half of the 474,554 registered voters in the senatorial district.
However, the commission noted that the petition lacked key details such as the contact addresses, phone numbers, and email addresses of the petitioners—requirements outlined in the Regulations and Guidelines for Recall 2024.
In response, Akpoti-Uduaghan, through her lawyer Victor Giwa, accused INEC of taking sides in the matter. In a letter dated March 26, she argued that the commission should have dismissed the petition outright instead of advising the petitioners on how to rectify their errors.
“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 favor of the Petitioners in this case,” the letter stated.
She emphasized that INEC’s role was to assess the petition’s validity based on existing regulations, not to provide guidance on how to correct its deficiencies.
“The proper thing and step to have been taken is to declare the Petition as ‘incompetent’ and subsequently disregard same,” she asserted.
The senator further pointed out that the addresses provided in the petition were limited to Okene, Kogi State, raising doubts about whether the alleged signatures truly represented voters from the entire senatorial district.
“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 stated.
She insisted that INEC’s decision to permit corrections instead of disqualifying the petition undermined due process and could erode public trust.
“We still believe that the Commission will act rightly,” Akpoti-Uduaghan concluded, urging INEC to maintain its integrity and fairness in the recall process.
