INEC receives 250,000 signed-petition for Natasha’s recall
About 250,000 registered voters from Kogi Central were alleged to have signed a petition submitted to the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) seeking Senator Natasha Akpoti-Uduaghan’s recall.
A resident who participated in submitting the petition told SaharaReporters that the recall effort was driven by the constituents.
She said: “It is concerned Kogi youths and women that submitted the petition. Talking about bankrolling, it is a personal business. It is a personal thing. We are members of our constituency, and we don’t want her anymore.
“We are the ones that voted, and we are saying we don’t want her anymore. So, nobody is bankrolling; nobody is having any personal issues with her. It is just what it is.
“We all know the INEC rules. You cannot submit a petition without having to go and get the signatures of registered voters. That is why we are now saying as people, we are recalling her from the Senate because we have gotten what it takes to recall her back.”
READ ALSO: Kogi Central constituents begin recall process of Senator Natasha
She further claimed that the required threshold for a recall had been met.
“We have 488,000 registered voters from Kogi Central and, as I speak to you now, we have more than 250,000 voters who have signed for her (Natasha) recall.”
Meanwhile, the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) had officially received the petition despite a Federal High Court injunction restraining it from doing so.
The petition was accepted on Monday by INEC Secretary, Rose Oriaran-Anthony.
On March 21, 2025, a Federal High Court in Lokoja ruled in favour of an interim injunction blocking INEC from accepting the recall petition due to allegations of falsified signatures.
The ruling was delivered by Justice Isa H. Dashen in suit number FHC/LKJ/CS/13/2025.
The court order restrained INEC from “receiving, accepting, or acting in any way whatsoever on any purported petitions submitted to the defendant by any person or persons whatsoever, containing fictitious signatures and names of purported members of Kogi Central Senatorial District and conducting any referendum whatsoever upon such petition to initiate a recall process.”
The case is scheduled for a hearing on May 6, 2025.
The controversy surrounding Senator Akpoti-Uduaghan’s recall intensified after she publicly accused Senate President Godswill Akpabio of sexual harassment. Following this, she was controversially suspended from the Senate, a move many believe is politically motivated.
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