Senator Petitions IG, Kogi CP As Kinsmen Tackle INEC

The Senator representing Kogi Central, Natasha Akpoti-Uduaghan, has petitioned the Inspector-General of Police, Kayode Egbetokun, and the Kogi State Commissioner of Police, Miller Dantawaye, over alleged forgery of signatures.

Saturday PUNCH gathered that the petitions were submitted to the IG and the police commissioner on Friday afternoon.

Some members of Akpoti-Uduaghan’s constituents, led by one Charity Ijese, had submitted over 250,000 signatures at the Independent National Electoral Commission headquarters in Abuja with a petition seeking the embattled senator’s recall.

The petition for her recall followed a series of events after she was suspended from the Senate on March 6 for alleged gross misconduct.

This was shortly after Akpoti-Uduaghan accused the Senate President, Godswill Akpabio, of sexual harassment.

On Tuesday, INEC, in a statement by its National Commissioner and Chairman of the Information and Voter Education Committee, Sam Olumekun, confirmed receiving the petition from the constituents.

However, the electoral body noted that the petition lacked essential details such as the contact addresses, phone numbers, and email addresses of the petitioners.

The following day, INEC wrote to Akpoti-Uduaghan and the Presiding Officer of the Senate, Akpabio, confirming that the contact details of the petitioners had now been corrected.

Shortly afterward, leaked video clips surfaced on social media showing some politicians in the state appending their signatures to the petition.

Suspicion grew further during the week as many questioned how over 250,000 constituents could have signed the petition within 10 days when only 120,000 turned out to vote in the 2023 general election for the senatorial district.

Speaking with Saturday PUNCH, the suspended senator’s legal team, led by Victor Giwa, revealed that Akpoti-Uduaghan had petitioned the IG and the Kogi State police commissioner over the alleged forged signatures in the recall petition.

He added that a copy of the petition would also be submitted to INEC.

Giwa said, “Firstly, we are aware that those signatures were forged, and it is the act of APC members in Kogi State, who are desperate to remove her. Secondly, we are prosecuting the case in court. We have written our petition regarding the forgery, and we are submitting it to the Inspector General of Police, the Kogi State Commissioner of Police, and INEC. Before 1pm today (Friday), they would have received it.”

He explained that the legal team decided to take the forgery petition to the police because it involved a criminal offence.

“INEC does not have the materials to examine a case of forgery. What they are expected to do is compare whether the signatures correspond with the ones signed by the owners. But we are alleging that it is a case of forgery, and only the police can handle cases of forgery. Let the petitioners present the signatures, and let the police subject them to forensic tests for us to confirm that they were not forged,” Giwa added.

It is expected that after receiving the petition, INEC will embark on verifying the signatures at each polling unit in the constituency.

However, Giwa insisted that the forgery allegation must first be addressed before the commission could proceed to the next stage of the recall process, especially given that a related case was still pending in court.

“The case is in court, and INEC is aware. Secondly, we are now dealing with allegations of fraud. Some people submitted certain signatures, and others claim they were forged, which is a criminal matter. So, as an institution, I believe INEC would need to submit the signatures to the police to confirm whether or not there is forgery. And this should come before the verification exercise,” he added.

Meanwhile, the Ebira People’s Association has condemned the ongoing recall process against Akpoti-Uduaghan, describing it as a politically motivated gang-up designed to undermine democracy.

Speaking in an interview with Saturday PUNCH, the association’s secretary, Baba Abdulrazaq, criticized the recall process as an “electoral fraud” and a “coup against democratic institutions.”

He urged INEC to resist being used as a tool to subvert the people’s mandate.

Abdulrazaq accused INEC of facilitating an illegitimate recall effort by providing undue support to individuals he described as “impostors and dissidents.”

“The Independent National Electoral Commission has illegally provided support to impostors, dissidents, and petitioners who claim to have gathered 250,000 forged and stolen signatures,” Abdulrazaq stated.