A Nigerian senator has accused the country’s electoral commission of bias for not immediately rejecting a petition seeking her recall from the Senate.
Natasha Akpoti-Uduaghan, who represents Kogi Central, criticised the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) after it acknowledged receiving the petition but pointed out procedural flaws rather than dismissing it outright.
INEC confirmed on Tuesday that it had received the petition, which reportedly contains signatures from more than half of the registered voters in the Kogi Central senatorial district. However, the Commission noted that the petition lacked essential details such as the contact addresses, phone numbers and email addresses of those who signed it, as required by INEC’s regulations for recall processes in 2024.
In response, Senator Akpoti-Uduaghan, through her lawyer Victor Giwa, accused INEC of compromising its neutrality. In a letter dated March 26th, she argued that instead of declaring the petition incompetent due to its procedural shortcomings, INEC had offered guidance to the petitioners.
The letter stated, “Your position as disclosed in your press release on March 25, 2025, signed by Sam Olumekun shows that the Commission has taken sides and has become partial in favour of the Petitioners in this case.”
Mr. Giwa argued that the correct course of action for INEC, given the missing information, was to declare the petition “incompetent” and disregard it.
Senator Akpoti-Uduaghan asserted that INEC’s decision to allow the petitioners to rectify their errors, rather than disqualifying the petition, was a breach of due process. She urged the commission to “do the needful and rebuild the public trust that is fast declining.”
She added, “Lawfully, the Commission is supposed to have declared the Petition as incompetent for being patently defective for the reasons stated above but surprisingly, the Commission, instead of disregarding the Petition for failure to meet the requirements, opted to take the role of an adviser to the Petitioners and so advised the Petitioners that once they provide the needed information that is not contained in the Petition by meeting the requirements, it shall commence the verification of the signatures in each polling units.”
Senator Akpoti-Uduaghan also highlighted that the addresses provided in the petition were limited to Okene, Kogi State, suggesting that the alleged signatures did not represent the entire senatorial district.
“Secondly, the address disclosed and provided in the petition according to your press release was Okene Kogi State, meaning that the two hundred and fifty signatories as contained in the petition came only from Okene, Kogi state, which seems more probable,” she said.
The senator’s accusations raise questions about the impartiality of INEC in this recall process and could potentially lead to further legal challenges.
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