Senator representing Kogi Central, Natasha Akpoti-Uduaghan, has accused the Independent National Electoral Commission of bias in its handling of the petition seeking her recall.
She criticised the commission for failing to dismiss the petition outright despite its failure to meet key procedural requirements.
INEC, in a statement on Tuesday signed by its National Commissioner and Chairman of the Information and Voter Education Committee, Sam Olumekun, confirmed receipt of the petition. According to the commission, the document contains signatures from more than half of the 474,554 registered voters in the senatorial district.
However, INEC noted that the petition lacked crucial details, including the contact addresses, phone numbers, and email addresses of the petitioners—requirements stipulated in the *Regulations and Guidelines for Recall 2024*.
In response, Akpoti-Uduaghan, through her lawyer, Victor Giwa, accused the electoral body of taking sides in the matter. In a letter dated March 26, she argued that rather than advising the petitioners on how to rectify their errors, INEC should have declared the petition invalid.
“Your position as disclosed in your press release on March 25, 2025, signed by Sam Olumekun, shows that the Commission has taken sides and has become partial in favour of the Petitioners in this case,” the letter stated.
She stressed that INEC’s responsibility was to assess whether the petition met legal requirements, not to provide guidance on how to fix its deficiencies.
“The proper thing and step to have been taken is to declare the Petition as ‘incompetent’ and subsequently disregard same,” she asserted.
The senator further raised concerns about the authenticity of the petition, pointing out that the addresses provided were limited to Okene, Kogi State, which casts doubt on whether the signatures genuinely represent voters from across the senatorial district.
“The address disclosed and provided in the petition, according to your press release, was Okene, Kogi State, meaning that the two hundred and fifty signatories as contained in the petition came only from Okene, Kogi State, which seems more probable,” she stated.
She maintained that INEC’s decision to allow corrections instead of outrightly disqualifying the petition undermined due process and could damage public confidence in the commission’s neutrality.
“We still believe that the Commission will act rightly,” Akpoti-Uduaghan concluded, urging INEC to uphold its integrity and fairness in handling the recall process.
