The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) has dismissed claims of partisanship in its handling of the failed attempt to recall Senator Natasha Akpoti-Uduaghan, who represents Kogi Central in the National Assembly.
Speaking on Politics Today on Channels Television, Rotimi Oyekanmi, Chief Press Secretary to the INEC Chairman, clarified the commission’s role and defended its actions.
“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 explained.
“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 emphasized that INEC followed its rules, adding that a missing address in the petition’s cover letter is not legal grounds to discard a recall effort.
“And of course, there is nowhere in the law where INEC is asked to reject a petition just because the cover letter did not contain the address. So, there was no hanky-panky in what we did,” he said.
Earlier on Thursday, INEC formally declared that the petition to recall Senator Akpoti-Uduaghan failed to meet the requirements outlined in the Nigerian Constitution.
The recall was initiated after Senator Natasha was suspended from the Senate over alleged rule violations. Her suspension prompted concerns among some constituents over lack of representation.
When asked if the recall attempt could be restarted, Oyekanmi noted the law is vague on how many times the process can be initiated.
“The law just talks about the threshold, the threshold meaning that if you want to recall, you must have, in addition to your petition, 50 per cent plus one signatures. The law did not specify how many times you can undertake that,” he stated.
Senator Akpoti-Uduaghan has remained in the public eye after accusing Senate President Godswill Akpabio of sexual harassment—an allegation the Senate leader has denied.
