Natasha accuses INEC of bias over recall petition
Senator Natasha Akpoti-Uduaghan, representing Kogi Central, has accused the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) of bias in handling the recall petition against her. She criticized the commission for failing to reject the petition outright despite its procedural flaws.
The controversy arose after INEC confirmed receiving a petition seeking her recall, allegedly signed by more than half of the 474,554 registered voters in Kogi Central. However, the commission acknowledged that the petition lacked key details, including the contact addresses, phone numbers, and email addresses of the petitioners, which are required under its 2024 Regulations and Guidelines for Recall.
Despite these deficiencies, INEC, in a statement signed by its National Commissioner and Chairman of Information and Voter Education Committee, Sam Olumekun, did not dismiss the petition. Instead, it indicated that the petitioners could rectify the missing information and resubmit it.
In response, Akpoti-Uduaghan, through her lawyer, Victor Giwa, sent a letter to INEC dated March 26, 2025, accusing the commission of compromising its neutrality. She argued that instead of guiding the petitioners on how to correct their errors, INEC should have declared the petition “incompetent” and dismissed it immediately.
“The proper step INEC should have taken to demonstrate impartiality was to declare the petition defective, which would have put an end to the process,” the letter stated. She maintained that allowing petitioners to amend their submission undermines the credibility of the recall process.
The senator also raised concerns about the legitimacy of the petition, noting that the addresses provided were limited to Okene, Kogi State, rather than covering the entire senatorial district. “If the signatories came only from Okene, it raises doubts about whether they truly represent the entire district,” she noted.
Akpoti-Uduaghan questioned the authenticity of the signatures, suggesting that the petition may not genuinely reflect the will of Kogi Central voters. She insisted that INEC’s failure to uphold its own procedural standards could set a dangerous precedent.
She warned that INEC’s handling of the matter erodes public trust in the electoral process and called on the commission to demonstrate fairness by strictly adhering to its guidelines.
