…….Says ‘it’s proof that Kogi Central has abandoned Natasha, Vow to proceed with recall, finetune process.

Constituents of Kogi Central Senatorial District have thanked the Independent National Electoral Commission for validating 208,132 (43.86 per cent) signatures in the petition submitted for the recall of the suspended lawmaker representing the District in the National Assembly, Senator Natasha Akpoti-Uduaghan.

The constituents, who are registered voters of Kogi Central, noted that, though they had mobilised more than the 50 per cent plus one threshold of registered voters and submitted their petition with full documentation, the validation of 43.86 per cent by the Commission still confirmed that Kogi Central constituents had abandoned the embattled Senator.”

Apparently, INEC canceled not less than 35,000 signatures at the administrative stage,” the constituents said, while reacting to a statement on the recall process issued by the electoral umpire.

In a statement on Thursday, signed by Salihu Habib, on behalf of the petitioners, the constituents insisted that there was no going back on their resolve to bring the Kogi Senator back home.

“We will liaise with INEC within the full ambits of the Constitution and regulations to demand for transparency in the handling of our petition.

We have utmost confidence in the Commission not to subject the recall process to ambiguity or administrative opacity,” the constituents said.

They expressed their gratitude to INEC for proving naysayers, who queried the authenticity of their figures, wrong.

“We thank INEC for making it clear that the bulk of the people of Kogi Central are behind us and that we did not import a crowd like a desperate, embattled lawmaker,” they said.

The petitioners insisted that the recall of Senator Akpoti-Uduaghan “for misconduct and divisiveness” was non-negotiable.

They said, “We are firm in our resolve to restore dignified and collaborative representation to Kogi Central Senatorial District.

We will no longer indulge someone who will do and say anything just to remain politically relevant.

“The whole of Nigeria watched her deceptive rally last Tuesday where she openly made comments capable of setting, not just Kogi State, but Nigeria ablaze.

“How can any patriotic Nigerian accuse other parts of the country of sabotaging Kogi State/the North because LNG plants are sited here?

How can a responsible Senator of the Federal Republic of Nigeria try to pitch the North against the South?”

“We will pursue all lawful and constitutional means to ensure our voices are heard and respected. After God, power belongs to the people,” the constituents declared.

‎‎The Edo State Governorship Election Petition Tribunal sitting in Abuja has affirmed the election of Monday Okphebholo of the All Progressives Congress APC as governor of Edo State.‎‎

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 says Asue Ighodalo and the PDP 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.

The Tribunal says 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 says most of the 19 witnesses called by the PDP merely gave hearsay evidence during the proceedings. ‎‎Justice Kpochi faulted what he termed as PDP’s realiance of Section 137 of the Electoral Act to dump documents on the Tribunal.

The Tribunal says it’s not for it to scrutinize documents tendered by the petitioners.

‎‎The Tribunal further says 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 the need to tender the voters register, BVAS machines and polling unit results or Forms EC8A.‎‎

Following this, the Tribunal dismissed the petition of Asue Ighodalo of the PDP for lacking in merit.

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

The PDP candidate faulted the outcome of the election on grounds non-compliance with the Electoral Act and the failure of Monday Okphebholo to secure majority of the lawful votes cast.

Putting that in context, the PDP governorship candidate alleged improper computation of votes by INEC, non serialization of electoral materials and overvoting. ‎

The Senator representing Kogi Central, Natasha Akpoti-Uduaghan, has insisted that the Senate President, Godswill Akpabio and former governor of Kogi State, Yahaya Bello, initiated her recall process using fake constituents.

On Tuesday, supporters from Kogi Central’s five local government areas gathered early in Ihima, Okehi LGA, to welcome the PDP lawmaker.

Natasha received a rousing welcome from supporters despite a government ban on rallies and processions.

However, the Senator in a statement issued Wednesday challenged Bello to tell the world where he manufactured the names of those fake constituents calling for her recall.

She noted: “All available evidence and facts point directly to Bello as the mastermind behind the recall move.”

Akpoti-Uduaghan cited Bello’s past actions before and during the 2023 general election when he was accused of orchestrating multiple attacks against her, then a candidate.

The senator described the recall attempt as a continuation of Bello’s political vendetta against her person.

She added: “I will advise the former governor to rather focus on clearing his name over allegations of fraudulent diversion of N89.2 billion, instead of attempting to destabilize the mandate given to me by the people of Kogi Central.

“The former governor’s hands are already full with corruption allegations, yet he is still bent on frustrating the will of the people.

“His actions before and during the last general elections, where he sponsored numerous attacks against me, are well documented.

This recall attempt is nothing but another ploy to undermine the people’s will,” “It is now very clear to the whole world how popular I am in my constituency. The powers that be did try to suppress the will of the people but my people emphatically said no. No to injustice, no to exploitation of women, no to fake recall, no to Yahaya Bello and his allies.

“They (My people) came out en masse to resist government intimidation. We thank them for the massive show of love. We also thank our oppressors because their actions have now made them more unpopular while we gained more support.

“As more me, I will do more for my people. I will not betray them. I will continue to give my best and they should be rest- assured of our best representation all the time,” the Senator said.