The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) has confirmed that petitioners seeking the recall of suspended Kogi Central Senator, Natasha Akpoti-Uduaghan, have submitted their contact address, phone numbers, and email addresses.
INEC’s National Commissioner and Chairman of the Information and Voter Education Committee, Sam Olumekun, disclosed this in a statement on Wednesday.
The electoral body had earlier announced on March 25 that the petitioners failed to provide the necessary contact information as required by the Commission’s Regulations and Guidelines for Recall 2024.
However, Olumekun stated that the details were submitted in a letter dated March 26.
He further explained that INEC has officially notified the senator of the recall petition, with copies sent to the Senate presiding officer and published on the commission’s website.
“The next step is to scrutinize the list of signatories submitted by the petitioners to verify that the petition is supported by more than half of the registered voters in the constituency.
This process will be conducted in the coming days, and the outcome will determine INEC’s next course of action,” Olumekun said, assuring Nigerians of a transparent process.
Meanwhile, Senator Natasha Akpoti-Uduaghan has criticized INEC’s handling of the matter, accusing the commission of bias. In a letter through her lawyer, Victor Giwa, she argued that INEC should have dismissed the petition outright for procedural flaws rather than guiding the petitioners on compliance.
She maintained that rejecting the petition on technical grounds would have demonstrated INEC’s neutrality and ended the recall process.
