The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) has dismissed claims of partisanship in its handling of the failed recall bid against Senator Natasha Akpoti-Uduaghan of Kogi Central.
Speaking on Politics Today on Channels Television on Thursday, April 3, Rotimi Oyekanmi, Chief Press Secretary to the INEC Chairman, explained the circumstances surrounding the petition.
“In the case of the Kogi Central District, we received a petition and a cover letter and of course what Nigerians were saying was that we were taking sides,” Oyekanmi said on the programme.
“But what happened was that in the covering letter, the representatives of the petitioners did not include their address as required in our regulations and guidelines and what we just did was to ask them to supply their address, it has nothing to do with the petition.
“And of course, there is nowhere in the law where INEC is asked to reject a petition just because the cover letter did not contain the address. So, there was no hanky-panky in what we did.”
READ ALSO: INEC Rejects Recall Petition Against Senator Natasha Over Insufficient Signatures
INEC had earlier on Thursday announced that the petition for Senator Natasha’s recall failed to meet the constitutional threshold. The petition was reportedly initiated after the senator was suspended by the Senate for breaching its rules.
According to Oyekanmi, the law only outlines the threshold for a recall — 50 percent plus one of registered voters — but does not specify how often such attempts can be made.
“The law just talks about the threshold, the threshold meaning that if you want to recall, you must have, in addition to your petition, 50 per cent plus one signatures. The law did not specify how many times you can undertake that,” he said.
Senator Natasha has remained in the spotlight in recent months following her accusation of sexual harassment against Senate President Godswill Akpabio, which he has denied. Her suspension by the Senate was linked to a violation of its code of conduct.