More Trouble For Senator Natasha As INEC Begins Recall Process

…Confirms Receipt Of Petitioners’ Signatures, Other Details

The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) said the petition for the recall of Senator Natasha Akpoti-Uduaghan, representing Kogi Central Senatorial District, has finally met the submission requirements and will proceed to the next stage.

In an update on Wednesday, INEC confirmed that the representatives of the petitioners have provided the required contact details, including house address, telephone numbers, and email addresses.

Following this development, INEC said it has notified Akpoti-Uduaghan of the recall petition through a letter delivered to her address.

The same letter has been copied to the Senate President, Godswill Akpabio, and published on the commission’s website.

“As provided in Clause 2(a) of the Commission’s Regulations and Guidelines for Recall 2024, a letter has been written to notify the Senator sought to be recalled about the receipt of the petition and delivered to her official address. The same letter has been copied to the presiding officer of the Senate and published on the Commission’s website.

“The next step is to scrutinise the list of signatories submitted by the petitioners to ascertain that the petition is signed by more than half (over 50%) of the registered voters in the constituency. This will be done in the coming days. The outcome, which will be made public, shall determine the next step to be taken by the Commission.

“We once again reassure Nigerians that the process will be open and transparent,” read a statement by Sam Olumekun, INEC’s National Commissioner and Chairman of the Information and Voter Education Committee.

The planned recall of Akpoti-Uduaghan comes after her suspension from the Senate on March 6 over allegations of “gross misconduct” related to a dispute over seating arrangements.

The senator, who was elected on the platform of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), had accused Senate President Godswill Akpabio of sexual harassment.

Akpabio denied the allegation.

During the petition submission, Charity Omole, a representative of the petitioners, said the recall was necessary to ensure continuous representation for Kogi Central in the Senate.

“We are the ones who voted for her, and we don’t want her anymore because we cannot afford not to have a representative. Nobody is bankrolling us. Nobody has any personal issues with her. It is just what it is. The game is the game,” Omole told journalists at the INEC headquarters on Monday.

More Trouble For Senator Natasha As INEC Begins Recall Process is first published on The Whistler Newspaper