The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) has denied being partisan in handling the failed recall of the lawmaker representing Kogi Central, Senator Natasha Akpoti-Uduaghan.

Rotimi Oyekanmi, the Chief Press Secretary to Chairman of INEC Mahmood Yakubu, who was on Channels Television’s Politics Today on Thursday, explained how the Commission handled the process.

“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.”

Earlier on Thursday, INEC rejected the petition to recall Senator Akpoti-Uduaghan, saying that it has not met the requirements.

The electoral commission said the petition to recall Senator Natasha did not meet constitutional requirements.

Senator Natasha was suspended for breaching Senate rules, prompting some of her constituents to initiate her recall. They claimed the move was to ensure their constituency did not lack representation following the suspension of the 45-year-old senator.

Asked whether there could be a repeat of the recall process, the INEC spokesperson said the law did not specify if the process could be repeated and how many times.

“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.

The lawmaker has made headlines in recent months after she accused Senate President Godswill Akpabio of sexual harassment, a claim the Akwa Ibom lawmaker has equally denied.

She was, thereafter, suspended by the Red Chamber for violation of its rule of conduct.

The Edo Governorship Election Petitions Tribunal sitting in Abuja, on Wednesday, affirmed Senator Monday Okpebholo as the governor.

A three-member panel headed by Justice Wilfred Kpochi, dismissed the petition filed by the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and its candidate, Asue Ighodalo, against the outcome of the September 21, 2024, governorship election.

In its judgment, the panel ruled that the petitioners failed to call competent witnesses to prove the allegations of non-compliance with the Electoral Act.

‎‎In the lead judgment read by Justice Wilfred Kpochi, the Tribunal said non-compliance must be proven convincingly. It noted that the failure of the petitioners to call polling unit officers, presiding officers or even voters during the election proved fatal to their petition.

The Tribunal stated that most of the 19 witnesses called by the PDP merely gave hearsay evidence during the proceedings.

‎‎Justice Kpochi faulted what he termed as the PDP’s reliance on Section 137 of the Electoral Act to dump documents on the Tribunal. The Tribunal noted that it’s not for it to scrutinise documents tendered by the petitioners.

‎‎The Edo Tribunal further said the BVAS machines tendered by the petitioners remain dormant, as it’s not the duty of the Tribunal to access the data in the machines.

‎‎In the unanimous decision, the Tribunal thereby restated that to prove overvoting as alleged by Ighodalo and the PDP, there’s a need to tender the voters register, BVAS machines and polling unit results or Forms EC8A.

Following that, the Tribunal dismissed the petition of Asue Ighodalo, candidate of PDP for lacking merit.

‎‎INEC had declared that Okpebholo of the APC secured 291,667 votes to defeat Ighodalo who got 247,655 votes. PDP approached the Tribunal to challenge the results from 765 polling units of the 4,519 units in Edo State.

‎The PDP candidate faulted the outcome of the election on the grounds of non-compliance with the Electoral Act and the failure of Monday Okphebholo to secure a majority of the lawful votes cast. Putting that in context, the PDP governorship candidate alleged improper computation of votes by INEC, non-serialisation of electoral materials and over-voting.

Senator Natasha Akpoti-Uduaghan, on Tuesday, received a rousing welcome from her supporters and residents of the Ihima community of Kogi State, despite the government’s ban on rallies and processions.

As early as 8am, her supporters from the five local government areas of Kogi Central Senatorial District that Akpoti-Uduaghan represents flooded the Ihima community of Okehi Local Government Area (LGA) to welcome the People’s Democratic Party (PDP) lawmaker.

Several local musicians took turns entertaining the people who attended the celebration while they awaited the arrival of the female lawmaker.

It did not, however, take long before the embattled senator arrived at the place in a white helicopter, eliciting applause from her teeming, jubilant supporters.

“Yesterday, we heard on the news that rallies and gatherings will not be allowed, that roads will be blocked, and convoys leading into the state will not be allowed. I knew that we were the targets. But then I said, this is not political season, this is not campaign time,” the lawmaker told her supporters and constituents.

“We are not having a rally. This is just me, the Senator representing Kogi Central, coming down to her people to celebrate this festive time –  the Sallah with you, and there is nothing wrong with that. I am breaking no law. This is Nigeria. We have the right to be free, to express our choice in gatherings and celebrations.”

Her return comes hours after the Kogi State Government banned public gatherings and processions, citing security threats.

This was followed by the imposition of a curfew in the area by the Okehi Local Government Area chairman, Amoka Monday, and a warning from the police for her to cancel the event.

Despite the warnings, the lawmaker told the crowd of supporters that no one can stop her from coming home.

“Nobody and nothing can stop me from coming home. I’m an Ebira woman; this is my land. I’m the daughter of the late Jimoh Abdul Akpoti. I know my roots; I’m not a bastard, and I’m not afraid of anybody,” the PDP senator said.