The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), has confirmed the petition submitted to the commission demanding the recall of Senator Natasha Akpoti.
However, the Commission observed notable loopholes in the petition, especially, the omission of names, home addresses and email addresses of the constituents, therefore, hinders its next line of action.
INEC, in a statement issued on Tuesday, the National Commissioner and Chairman, Information and Voter Education Committee, Sam Olumekun, said it would be guided by the legal framework for recall processes, as enshrined in the 1999 Constitution, the Electoral Act 2022 as well as the Commission’s detailed Regulations and Guidelines for Recall 2024.
The Commission disclosed that the petition from Kogi Central Senatorial District 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, in the statement said, its “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,” it said.
The Commission reiterated 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, stating that once the petition meets the requirements of submission, as contained in its regulations, it shall commence the verification of the signatures in each Polling Unit in an open process restricted to registered voters that signed the petition only.
It explained that “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).
“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.
“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,” it said.
