One of the petitioners seeking the recall of Kogi Central Senator, Natasha Akpoti-Uduaghan, from the Senate has said they are preparing to resubmit a fresh petition after the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) rejected the initial one.
Sandra Musa, who spoke on behalf of the petitioners on the TVC breakfast show on Friday, insisted that there’s no going back on the process to recall Mrs Akpoti-Uduaghan.
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“It doesn’t mean that the process has been put on a halt, and so we are believing that once we are able to meet up with the level of compliance that they need for it to be adequate, the process will definitely take its course,” she said.
INEC had earlier rejected the petition for failing to meet the threshold outlined in Section 69(a) of the Nigerian Constitution, which requires that at least 50 per cent plus one of the registered voters in a constituency must sign a recall petition.
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According to INEC, only 208,132 of the 474,554 registered voters in Kogi Central signed the petition, amounting to 43.86 per cent and falling short by 29,146 signatures.
Despite this, Mrs Musa stated that verified signatures from INEC were encouraging after it gave the petitioners hope that they could get the required signatures.
“The people in her compound, are they up to 5,000? And what we heard from INEC, being an independent body, has already made us understand that over 208,000 signatures have been verified. So, I’ll leave that to the public to judge,” she added.
How the recall started
The attempt to recall Mrs Akpoti-Uduaghan began in early March when some constituents gathered to initiate the process. The process was met with criticism and allegations that the petitioners were financially induced.
On 24 March, a faction from her constituency, known as the Concerned Kogi Youth and Women, formally submitted the petition to INEC headquarters in Abuja.
In a letter addressed to INEC Chairperson, Mahmood Yakubu, members of the group said they had lost confidence in Mrs Akpoti-Uduaghan’s representation at the National Assembly and, therefore, asked the commission to commence the process of recalling her.
Initially, INEC detected errors in the petition. The commission said the petition submitted did not include the contact address, telephone numbers and email addresses of the petitioners.
A day later, the electoral commission announced that it had received the missing information, allowing the process to proceed and assured of being transparent with the process.
After receiving the necessary details, INEC proceeded with the verification process and officially notified the presiding officers of the Senate and Mrs Akpoti-Uduaghan of the recall petition.
A few days later, Mrs Akpoti-Uduaghan reacted to the recall process, describing it as a fraudulent act.
Also, the Federal High Court in Lokoja, Kogi State, on Monday vacated an ex-parte injunction that had initially granted her some relief on 20 March.
Accusation of incitement
Mrs Musa also criticised the visit by Mrs Akpoti-Uduaghan to her constituency for Eid-il-Fitr, accusing her of trying to incite the people against the Kogi State Governor, Ahmed Ododo, who had imposed a ban on political rallies ahead of her arrival.
“Now, having to say she came home to explain, if you look at the video of what she came to do, she came to incite the people. That visit was more about name tagging people, blackmailing them of which every one of the persons she had called, even to the president, governor, who is the chief servant of the state, His Excellency, Alhaji Ahmed Usman Ododo, has also got a level of followership.
“Imagine if his followers would have also gotten angry from that. And that’s why I’m trying to say that a whole lot has been done to keep Kogi Central in a place of peace, in a place of calm, which we enjoy today. And that’s why our people can go back home and have a whole lot of time to spend with their people,” she said.
Concerns over representation at National Assembly
Mrs Musa also raised concerns about Mrs Akpoti-Uduaghan’s suspension from the Senate, which she claimed has left the constituency without effective representation.
“What we discussed initially…..I was making you understand that the people who voted her into office, she had never come back to them to say, these and these are the things that happened.
“And so what we know is that she has been given a suspension for six months, and that is tentative one year. And that means that we’re going to be out of the dividends of democracy for that period of time,” she said.
She said the senator could have avoided suspension by apologising to her colleagues, noting that her refusal had also affected her ability to pursue a personal sexual harassment claim.
“And I was also making it clear then that she would have taken time to listen to her colleagues. If you look at the video, a whole lot of people were trying to talk to her and then she didn’t listen to anyone. And then go for the option of having to apologise.
“Now, if she had apologised, and then this issue of being suspended for six months did not come to be, it would have been possible for her to go on with her sexual harassment case, which like I always said, and I maintain, is a personal thing,” Mrs Musa said.
READ ALSO: Natasha Akpoti-Uduaghan: Freedom fighter of the decade, By Jibrin Ibrahim
Why Apoti-Uduaghan cannot apologise
However, Abdulrazaq Mamman, spokesperson for the Say No to Violence in Ebira Land Initiative, defended the senator, saying she cannot apologise at this point.
Mr Mamman added that the matter had already escalated beyond the point of reconciliation, and the suspension itself violated the senator’s rights under the constitution.
“It takes a lot. Where we are, before it got here, the event has overtaken that issue of apology. At this juncture, apologising, is saying everything that has been said is not true. And she was suspended on the issue of misconduct.
“If you say that she’s disorderly and you have suspended her for six months, which is against the constitution, you say she’s disorderly to her rules in the house, giving her six months is disorderly too. The way and manner that suspension is being approached, it’s nothing short of legislative recklessness,” Mr Mamman said.
