On Thursday, Senator Natasha Akpoti-Uduaghan praised the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) for dismissing a petition aimed at recalling her as the representative of Kogi Central Senatorial District. Speaking in an interview, the senator argued that INEC should have rejected the petition much earlier than its April 3, 2025, decision.

“I’m a lawyer and a senator—I know how Nigeria operates. The key thing for me is that this recall process has been halted,” she said. “I commend INEC, though I think they should have discarded it from the start. To me, it was void ab initio. The Electoral Act doesn’t explicitly say a petition should be thrown out for lacking an address, but what if the address is fake?”

The People’s Democratic Party (PDP) leader pointed out that many addresses listed in the recall petition were likely fabricated, noting that most homes in her district lack proper labeling. “INEC counted 208,000 signatures, but I’d wager that during verification, they’d struggle to find even 500 people to confirm signing it,” she asserted.

Akpoti-Uduaghan alleged that Senate President Godswill Akpabio, Governor Usman Ododo, and former Governor Yahaya Bello were behind the unsuccessful recall effort. In a highly anticipated statement on Thursday, INEC confirmed that the petition failed to satisfy Section 69(a) of the 1999 Constitution of Nigeria (as amended). “No further action will be taken on the recall of the Senator,” the commission stated.