The Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, has identified the absence of contact addresses of signatories as lapses in the petition seeking to recall Kogi Central Senator, Natasha Akpoti-Uduagan.
The electoral umpire therefore said it will not proceed with the recall process until petitioners fully comply with its regulations.
In a statement issued on Tuesday by its National Commissioner and Chairman of the Information and Voter Education Committee, Sam Olumekun, INEC stated that the matter was discussed at its weekly meeting on March 25, 2025.
According to the commission, the petition was submitted with six bags of documents containing signatures purportedly collected from over half of the 474,554 registered voters across 902 polling units in Kogi Central’s five local government areas: Adavi, Ajaokuta, Ogori/Magongo, Okehi, and Okene.
However, INEC noted a key procedural flaw, saying the petitioners failed to provide a clear contact address, email addresses, and telephone numbers as required by “Clause 1(f) of its Regulations and Guidelines for Recall 2024.”
“The process of recall is enshrined in the 1999 Constitution, the Electoral Act 2022 as well as the Commission’s detailed Regulations and Guidelines for Recall 2024, available on our website. All petitions will be treated in strict compliance with the legal framework,” the commission said.
“The Commission’s immediate observation is that the representatives of the petitioners did not provide their contact address, telephone number(s) and e-mail address(es) in the covering letter forwarding the petition through which they can be contacted as provided in Clause 1(f) of our Regulations and Guidelines.
“The address given is “Okene, Kogi State”, which is not a definite location for contacting the petitioners. Only the telephone number of “the lead petitioner” is provided as against the numbers of all the other representatives of the petitioners,” the statement read.
INEC reiterated that a legislator’s recall is the prerogative of registered voters who have lost confidence in their representative.
“The Commission wishes to reiterate that the recall of a legislator is the prerogative of registered voters in a constituency who sign a petition indicating loss of confidence in the legislator representing them.
“Once the petition meets the requirements of submission, as contained in our regulations, the Commission shall commence the verification of the signatures in each Polling Unit in an open process restricted to registered voters that signed the petition only.
“The petitioners and the member whose recall is sought shall be at liberty to nominate agents to observe the verification, while interested observers and the media will also be accredited. At each Polling Unit, signatories to the petition shall be verified using the Bimodal Voter Accreditation System (BVAS),” it stated.
Meanwhile, INEC said Consequently, “if the petitioners fully comply with the requirements of Clause 1(f) of the Regulations and Guidelines regarding the submission of their petition, the Commission will announce the next steps in line with the extant laws, regulations and guidelines.”
It added that “In the absence of a definite contact address, the Commission is making efforts to use other means to notify the representatives of the petitioners of the situation.
The commission urged the public to disregard speculation and social media reports, while reassuring its commitment to due process and the legal framework governing recall procedures.