Senator Natasha Akpoti-Uduaghan, representing Kogi Central, has voiced her understanding of Nigeria’s political landscape while expressing satisfaction that the attempt to recall her from the Senate has been stalled.
Speaking on Channels TV’s Politics Today, she commended the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) for halting the process but argued that the petition should have been dismissed outright.
According to the report, the recall petition failed to meet constitutional requirements.
However, Senator Akpoti-Uduaghan pointed out significant flaws in INEC’s handling of the matter.
“I’m a senator, and I understand how Nigeria works. The most important thing is that this recall process has been stalled, and I give kudos to INEC, though I believe they should have thrown it out from the start,” she stated.
She raised concerns about the legitimacy of the petition, questioning the validity of the addresses provided. “There is no provision stating that a petition should be discarded solely for lacking an address. But what if the address is false? I personally verified the address given—it’s just five minutes away from me, yet it does not exist. Most of the streets in my hometown are unlabelled,” she explained.
Furthermore, she spoke on another issue regarding the petition’s sponsor. “The cover letter came from the Kogi Central Political Frontier, but upon checking with the Corporate Affairs Commission (CAC), we found that the organisation is not registered. Can an unregistered body legally sponsor a petition against a senator?” she questioned.
Senator Akpoti-Uduaghan urged INEC to address these loopholes and consider strengthening electoral laws to prevent such procedural gaps in the future.
“In my opinion, this petition should have been dismissed from the start,” she concluded.
