The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) has rejected the petition sent to it for the recall of Mrs. Natasha Akpoti-Uduaghna as a senator.
The commission in statement on Tuesday signed by its National Commissioner & Chairman
Information and Voter Education Committee, Sam Olumekun, noted that the potion did not meet the requirement necessary for the recall process to hold.
While stating that there are guidelines to be followed in the recall process, the commissioned said at its meeting on Tuesday, it observed that the petitioners failed to provide the contact address, telephone number(s) and e-mail address(es) in the covering letter forwarding the petition through which they can be contacted as provided in Clause 1(f) of our Regulations and Guidelines.
The statement reads: “The process of recall is enshrined in the 1999 Constitution, the Electoral Act 2022 as well as the Commission’s detailed Regulations and Guidelines for Recall 2024, available on our website. All petitions will be treated in strict compliance with the legal framework.”
It revealed that the petition from Kogi Central Senatorial District was accompanied by six bags of documents said to be signatures collected from over half of the 474,554 registered voters spread across 902 Polling Units in 57 Registration Areas (Wards) in the five Local Government Areas of Adavi, Ajaokuta, Ogori/Magongo, Okehi and Okene.
The commission faulted the address given as “Okene, Kogi State”, which it said was not a definite location for contacting the petitioners, adding that “only the telephone number of “the lead petitioner” is provided as against the numbers of all the other representatives of the petitioners.
It said “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.
“The petitioners and the member whose recall is sought shall be at liberty to nominate agents to observe the verification, while interested observers and the media will also be accredited. At each Polling Unit, signatories to the petition shall be verified using the Bimodal Voter Accreditation System (BVAS).
“Consequently, if the petitioners fully comply with the requirements of Clause 1(f) of the Regulations and Guidelines regarding the submission of their petition, the Commission will announce the next steps in line with the extant laws, regulations and guidelines.
“In the absence of a definite contact address, the Commission is making efforts to use other means to notify the representatives of the petitioners of the situation.
“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.”
The Commission reassures the public that it will be guided by the legal framework for recall, and urged the public to discountenance any speculations and insinuations in the social media” about INEC processing the recall of Senator Akpoto-Uduaghan.
