The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) has turned down requests of Kogi central senatorial district residents to begin the recall of their lawmaker, Natasha Akpoti-Uduaghan, over the petitioners’ inability to meet conditions set by the 1999 constitution guiding the replacement of a senator in the country.
INEC said that the petition would only be revisited when they meet the required standard for recall as enshrined in the 1999 Constitution, the Electoral Act 2022 as well and the Commission’s detailed Regulations and Guidelines for Recall 2024, available on our website.
The electoral umpire stressed that all petitions would be treated in strict compliance with the legal framework to avoid giving parties preferential treatment.
INEC’s stance was announced on Tuesday by its National Commissioner and Chairman, Information and Voter Education Committee, Sam Olumekun, through a statement made available to newsmen.
The umpire noted that its decision was reached after its regular weekly meeting, where the petitioners’ requests brought before it by Natasha’s constituency were reviewed and discussed extensively barely 24 hours after receiving the electorates’ demands.
According to INEC, “The process of recall is enshrined in the 1999 Constitution, the Electoral Act 2022 as well and 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”.
