INEC Identifies Flaw In Petition Submitted For Senator Natasha’s Recall

The independent National Electoral Commission INEC has acknowledged the receipt of signed petitions seeking the recall of Kogi Central Senator; Natasha Akpoti-Uduaghan

In a statement signed by Sam Olumekun, a National commissioner and chairman information and voter education, the commission however said it has noted errors of compliance in the submissions made by the petitioners.

The petition was accompanied by six bags of documents said to be signatures collected from over half of the 474,554 registered voters spread across 902 Polling Units in 57 Registration Areas (Wards) in the five Local Government Areas of Adavi, Ajaokuta, Ogori/Magongo, Okehi and Okene.

INEC stated that it observed that the representatives of the petitioners did not provide any verifiable information to trace their contact address, telephone numbers and e-mail addresses in the covering letter forwarding the petition through which they can be contacted

According to INEC, the address given is “Okene, Kogi State”, which it says is not a definite location for contacting the petitioners, while the only phone number provided was that of the lead petitioner instead of that of all the other representatives of the petitioners.This, it noted, failed to comply with Clause 1(f) of its regulations and guidelines.

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While acknowledging that the recall of any legislator is the prerogative of registered voters in a constituency, the electoral body maintained that the petition for such recall must meet the requirements of submission, as contained in its regulations.

It assured that once the threshold is met, the Commission will commence the verification of the signatures obtained in each polling units in an open process restricted to registered voters that signed the petition only.

Just like the process for voting, INEC stated that 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”.

The signatures contained in the petition will also be verified using the Bimodal Voter Accreditation System (BVAS).

But before all of these can take place, INEC insists that the requirements of Clause 1(f) of the Regulations and Guidelines regarding the submission of petition must be completed.