Nigeria Electoral body, the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC has rejected the petition seeking the dismissal or recall of the West Africa nation female Senator, Natasha Akpoti-Uduaghan who is currently representing Kogi Central Senatorial District at the Senate chamber of the country National Assembly, stating that the petitioners failed to meet the constitutional requirements for the recall process to scale through, this, apparently a continuation of the political drama that has ensued since the female senator accused the Senate President, Godswill Akpabio of sexual harassment.

INEC in a statement a few hours ago, narrated why the petition was rejected as presented verbatim below:

“The Commission held its regular weekly meeting today, Thursday 3rd April 2025. Among other issues, the meeting considered and approved the report of its physical count of the signatures/thumbprints forwarded with the petition for the recall of the Senator representing Kogi Central Senatorial District, in line with Clause 2(b) of the Regulations and Guidelines for Recall 2024.

The Commission had assured Nigerians that it would handle the matter with fairness to the parties involved and in line with the provisions of the law and our Regulations and Guidelines.

First, we ensured that the petitioners complied with the requirements for the submission of the petition.

Secondly, we notified the member sought to be recalled in writing, copied the presiding officer of the Senate and simultaneously published the notice on our website.

Thirdly, we informed Nigerians that the next step would be to carefully ascertain the number of signatures/thumbprints to ensure that the petition complies with the requirement of the law. This exercise has now been completed.

For emphasis, a petition for the recall of a Senator must comply with the provision of Section 69(a) of the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria 1999 (as amended) which requires the signatures of more than one-half of the registered voters in the constituency.

The total number of registered voters in the Kogi Central Senatorial District is 474,554. More than one-half of this figure (that is, 50%+1) is 237,277+1 which is at least 237,278 voters.

Across the 902 Polling Units in 57 Registration Areas and five Local Government Areas that make up the Senatorial District, the Commission ascertained 208,132 signatures/thumbprints from the submission made by the petitioners. This translates to 43.86% of the registered voters which falls short of the constitutional requirement by 29,146 signatories.

Consequently, the petition has not met the requirement of Section 69(a) of the Constitution. Therefore, no further action shall be taken on the recall of the Senator.

In line with the provision of Clause 2(d) of the Regulations and Guidelines for Recall 2024, the Commission has issued a Public Notice to that effect which is also copied to the presiding officer of the Senate.

The Public Notice, along with a summary of the review of the signatures/thumbprints of the petitioners, which are disaggregated by Local Government Areas, are available on our website and social media platforms for public information”, said Sam Olumekun, National Commissioner and Chairman, Information and Voter Education Committee on Thursday 3rd April 2025

Nigeria Senate President, Godswill Akpabio on Tuesday was alleged to have planned with the immediate past Governor of Kogi State, Yahaya Bello to assassinate Natasha Akpoti-Uduaghan, the Senator representing Kogi Central Senatorial District, this, the female lawmaker made the allegation in addition to her earlier allegation of sexual harassment leveled against the Nigeria third highest ranking government official which led to her being suspended by the Senate for six months and more actions taken apparently by her political enemies who may have encouraged her constituents to file a petition before the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC to recall her from the National Assembly, which, she accused her political enemies of forging and gathering fake signatures to mislead INEC into doing a dirty job, as such, she was warned to cancel her homecoming rally and procession after the Kogi State Governor, Usman Ododo banned political rally and procession in the state, subsequently, the Kogi State Command of the Nigeria Police Force issued a stern warning threat message on Tuesday morning that the political gathering maybe hijacked by hoodlums based on intelligence gathering, but despite the threats, the people of Kogi State came out in a very large numbers to receive and honour the female Senator who arrived the venue of the homecoming Sallah celebration with helicopter.

It would be recalled that there was a heated exchange that erupted recently at a Senate Ethics Committee hearing as Senator Onyekachi Nwebonyi clashed with former Education Minister Oby Ezekwesili over allegations involving suspended Senator Natasha Akpoti-Uduaghan, with two apparently loosing their manners and started using insulting and fowl words on each other.