‘INEC Can’t Get 500 Real Signatures From 208,000’ — Natasha Slams Failed Recall Attempt

Senator Natasha Akpoti-Uduaghan of Kogi Central Senatorial District has said the recall petition against her would still have failed verification if the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) had proceeded to authenticate them.

Akpoti-Uduaghan appeared on Channels TV’s Politics Today, monitored by THE WHISTLER on Thursday.

Her assertion came after INEC, for the second time, rejected the petition filed by supposed continuents of the female lawmaker seeking her recall from the Senate over her recent clash with Senate President Godswill Akpabio and subsequent suspension from the upper legislative chamber.

Akpoti-Uduaghan said INEC “would have struggled to even have 500 people come out to attest to signing” the petition despite the reported 208,000 signatures collected.

Speaking on the programme, the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) Senator claimed that most addresses provided in the petition were fabricated.

“I’m a lawyer [and] a senator and I understand how Nigeria works. For me, the most important thing is this recall process has been stalled.

“I give kudos and credit to INEC even though I believe they should have thrown it away from the get-go,” she said.

INEC had after its weekly meeting on Thursday, where a report on the petition was reviewed, declared that the petition for the senator’s recall failed to meet the requirements of Section 69(a) of the 1999 Constitution (as amended).

“Therefore, no further action shall be taken on the recall of the Senator,” the commission stated.

Akpoti-Uduaghan has been at the center of a controversy following a seat arrangement dispute with the Senate President whom she has accused of sexual harassment and abuse of office.

The allegations resulted in her six-month suspension from the Senate for misconduct.

The Kogi Central Senator further revealed on the programme that she intends to present evidence of sexual harassment against Senate President Akpabio.

“At the right time and at the right space, I will present the evidence that I have,” she affirmed.

Meanwhile, Senator Akpabio has denied the sexual harassment allegations.

Also speaking on the programme, Rotimi Oyekanmi, Chief Press Secretary to the INEC Chairman, defended the commission against allegations of partisanship in the recall process.

“In the case of the Kogi Central District, we received a petition and a cover letter and of course what Nigerians were saying was that we were taking sides,” Oyekanmi stated.

“But what happened was that in the covering letter, the representatives of the petitioners did not include their address as required in our regulations and guidelines and what we just did was to ask them to supply their address, it has nothing to do with the petition.”

He stressed that there was “no hanky-panky” in INEC’s actions.

According to him, the law doesn’t require rejecting a petition solely because a cover letter lacks an address.

When asked about the possibility of another recall attempt, the INEC chairman’s spokesperson clarified that while the law requires more than 50 per cent signatures for a recall petition, it doesn’t stipulate how many times such a process can be initiated against a lawmaker.

‘INEC Can’t Get 500 Real Signatures From 208,000’ — Natasha Slams Failed Recall Attempt is first published on The Whistler Newspaper