Following the recall attempts headed by Charity Ijese Omole, Special Adviser on Youths and Women Mobilisation to Kogi State Governor Usman Ododo, against Senator Natasha Akpoti-Uduaghan, the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) said the petitioners did not follow due process.
Section 69 (a) and (b) of the Nigerian Constitution of 1999 (as amended) states that INEC can admit the recall petition against a legislator if it is acquiesced by more than half of the voters from the lawmaker’s constituency, but the INEC Regulations and Guidelines fully explains the process.
Sam Olumekun, INEC’s National Commissioner & Chairman Information and Voter Education Committee, said “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”.
According to the commission’s regulations and guidelines, more than half of the registered voters in the Kogi Central Senatorial District that Akpoti-Uduaghan represents must sign a document.
It is, however, not certain whether the petitioners are wholly from Akpoti’s senatorial district. In a video obtained online, Omole said the constituents, under a group known as “Concerned Kogi Youths and Women”, signed the recall petition because of their “loss of confidence” in the senator.
HOW A VALID RECALL PROCESS REALLY IS
The signatories to the petition and the contact address of the petitioners would then be curated into a Register of Petitioners (Form EC41) for the purpose of the recall process to ascertain if the ‘over 50 per cent’ condition has been met.
The petition may be by signatures or thumbprints of the petitioners. The names, Voter Identification Numbers (VIN) and signatures of the petitioners would be arranged according to polling units in Akpoti-Uduaghan’s senatorial district.
To verify the petitioners, INEC would appoint Verification Officers (VOs) who would carry out the verification process after swearing an oath of neutrality. An electoral officer, assistant electoral officer or any other electoral officer would be appointed as a supervisor to the verification process.
The guidelines also stipulate that a day would be chosen for the verification process, which would be conducted between 8:30 am and 2:30 pm, although the time frame could be extended if deemed fit by the commission.
After the confirmation that more than 50 per cent of the registered voters have signed the petition, then a referendum would be conducted, otherwise, the recall process would be cancelled. The referendum must be conducted within 90 days after the petition has been received.
The referendum is a ‘yes’ or ‘no’ process, a sort of an election. For the recall to be successful, a simple majority of votes cast must assent to it.
