Natasha: We’ll commence recall process once petitioners meet requirements – INEC
ABUJA: The Independent National Electoral Commission INEC has promised to be guided by extant laws and own regulations with respect to the ongoing attempts to recall the Senator representing Kogi Central Senatorial District of Kogi state, Natasha Akpoti-Uduaghan.
INEC in a statement by its National Commissioner and Chairman of its Information and Voter Education Committee, Sam Olumekun said the Commission held its regular weekly meeting on Tuesday 25th March 2025.
Among other issues, the meeting discussed the petition for the recall of the Senator representing Kogi Central Senatorial District, said Olumekun.
According the him, INEC’s immediate observation was that the contact details of the petitioners were not included in their petition.
He said 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.
“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’s immediate observation is that the representatives of the petitioners did not provide their 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 address given is “Okene, Kogi State”, which is not a definite location for contacting the petitioners. Only the telephone number of “the lead petitioner” is provided as against the numbers of all the other representatives of the petitioners.
“The Commission wishes to reiterate that 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. 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 Commission reassures the public that it will be guided by the legal framework for recall. The public should therefore discountenance any speculations and insinuations in the social media”, the commission added.