‘One battle down, two more to go’ — Natasha Akpoti celebrates recall petition failure

Natasha Akpoti-Uduaghan, the senator representing Kogi central, has expressed joy after the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) dismissed the petition seeking her recall from the senate.

Earlier today, the commission said the recall petition failed to meet the requirements of the 1999 Constitution.

In a statement, INEC said the number of constituents who signed the petition against the suspended lawmaker fell short of 50 percent of registered voters in the constituency as required by the constitution.

In a reaction posted on her Facebook page, Akpoti-Uduaghan described the development as a victory and dedicated it to Nigerians.

“On God it’s victory for the people of 🇳🇬. One battle down, two more to go,” the lawmaker wrote.

“Deep gratitude to my beloved husband, awesome support team, magnificent people of Kogi Central and great people of Nigeria at large. INEC Nigeria, you did well.”

BACKGROUND

On March 24, some members of Kogi central district submitted a petition to INEC requesting the recall of Akpoti-Uduaghan from the senate.

Charity Omole, a representative of the constituents, said they submitted the petition to recall the senator because Kogi central could not afford to have a representative in the senate following her suspension.

“We have come to recall her so that we can have a representative in the senate. We are here to tell lNEC to please follow the constitutional process for a recall so that a recall process can begin,” Omole had said.

“We submitted the petition, and it has been received. All other documents have been received.

“We are the ones that voted her, and we don’t want her anymore because we cannot afford not to have a representative. Nobody is bankrolling us. Nobody is having any personal issue with her. It is just what it is. The game is the game.”

She said there are 488,000 registered voters in Kogi central, out of which more than 250,000 have signed the recall petition.

However, INEC said the petitioners did not provide their contact details.

On March 26, INEC said it had notified Akpoti-Uduaghan about the petition by constituents seeking her recall from the national assembly.

The commission said it had also received the contact details of the petitioners.

Speaking at her homecoming rally in Kogi on Tuesday, Akpoti-Uduaghan accused the electoral body of bias in her recall process.

“What I see INEC doing is aiding and guiding petitioners on how to perfect their illicit acts,” she said.

“The first time the petition was submitted, they didn’t have address and phone numbers, so INEC went out to guide them on how to submit information that will perfect their petition.

“And what did they do? The petitioners, who were from the other party, the APC, submitted a letterhead. What was the name of it? Kogi Central Political Frontier. And the address there was number 4, Oboroke.”