The political atmosphere in Kogi state has taken a gloomy shade as plots to recall Senator Natasha Akpoti-Uduaghan (Kogi Central, PDP) from the Senate may have matured and set to be initiated.
ebirareporters.com gathered that political stakeholders, majorly her opponents from across political parties including PDP in the senatorial district, have made frantic progress in getting approvals and have commenced collecting signatures.
Feelers from the senatorial district are that, the embattled Senator has shortchanged her constituents and brought embarrassment upon them through an incident they claimed, was a failed attempt at bringing the Nigeria Senate institution into disrespute.
Senator Akpoti-Uduaghan was suspended for six months by the Senate for gross misconduct and unruly behavior, actions according to the lawmakers, violated Sections 6.1 and 6.2 of the Senate rules.
The Kogi Central Senator would later accuse the Senate President, Godswill Akpabio of suppression and mistreatment after she turned down his sexual advances, filing a petition right before her suspension.
“As a people, we cannot afford to lose six months which would have been put to profitable use, all because of one person’s selfish gameplans and bring-down syndromes. The situation has become messier and brought embarrassment to the entirety of the state, that we sent a representative who neither knows house rules nor ready to learn.
“If recalling her is how she will learn to accord respect to her people through proper consultations and teamwork before making cunny moves, then so be it,” political commentator, Obeitor Abdulsamad said.
Process of Recall
A recall is a process through which an elected Senator may be removed from his or her seat in the Senate. The process involves electorates deciding via a referendum (yes/no vote) whether the Senator should remain or be sent packing,as contained in Section 69 of the 1999 Constitution.
To successfully conduct a recall process on any Senator, a petition is filed and signed by more than one-half valid voters from Senator’s constituents, and addressed to the Chairman of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC). The petition is signed and arranged by polling units, wards, local government areas and Constituency.
Once the petition is defined VALID, INEC proceeds to notify the affected Senator, issue a public notice of time and date for verification. Following verification exercise, INEC announces whether or not a referendum was met. If met, voting date will be announced, if not met, the petition will be dismissed.
Precedence
In April 2018, a recall process was initiated on Senator Dino Melaye as the Senator of Kogi West Senatorial District, and it failed.
Only five per cent of the electorate turned out in an exercise that required 51 per cent majority to succeed. Of the 189,870 signatories, only 18,742 were verified after the exercise.
Reactions
The Special Adviser to the State Governor on KOSSIPA, Abdulhamid Okene posted on Facebook that “Kogi Central Senatorial District Stakeholders have met. All issues scrutinized and we hereby resolve to recall you back home.
In response to the possibility of the process, the Convener of Say Not To Violence in Ebiraland (SNTVE) ‘ Abdulrazak Mamman described it as an attempt to destabilize the Senator.
“We shall vehemently oppose any attempt to steal the mandate of Kogi Central people through the backdoor. The people of Kogi Central have spoken loud and clear by electing Senator Natasha Uduaghan to represent them in the last general election, and we will not stand idly by while some individuals attempt to subvert their will.
“It is quite shameful that people who couldn’t defeat Senator Natasha Akpoti Uduaghan in an election poll now thinks they can actualize her recall through the backdoor. We are putting this out not out of fear of such a possibility but just so the orchestrators are aware that we are miles ahead of them.
“It is only a madman who repeats the same act every year and expects a different result. The political madness ought to have stopped with the last attempt with former Senator Dino Melaye. But in case they have refused to learn from their past mistakes, we shall be here to remind them,” he said.
