Kogi Central Senator Natasha Akpoti-Uduaghan has petitioned Kogi State Commissioner of Police Miller Dantawaye and Inspector-General of Police Kayode Egbetokun about suspected signature forgeries.
According to information obtained by The Intercept, the petitions were sent to the police commissioner and the IG on Friday afternoon.
A petition calling for the recall of the troubled senator was sent to the Independent National Electoral Commission headquarters in Abuja with over 250,000 signatures from some of Akpoti-Uduaghan’s constituents, led by one Charity Ijese.
After she was suspended from the Senate on March 6 for suspected severe misbehaviour, a chain of circumstances led to the recall petition.
This came soon after Akpoti-Uduaghan made sexual harassment accusations against Godswill Akpabio, the Senate President.
Sam Olumekun, the National Commissioner and Chairman of the Information and Voter Education Committee, verified receiving the appeal from the people in a statement released by INEC on Tuesday.
The electoral authority did point out that the petition was missing important information, like the petitioners’ email addresses, phone numbers, and contact addresses.
The next day, INEC confirmed in a letter to Akpoti-Uduaghan and Senate Presiding Officer Akpabio that the petitioners’ contact information had been updated.
Several officials in the state were seen signing the petition shortly after the leaked video recordings hit social media.
As just 120,000 people cast ballots in the 2023 general election for the senatorial district, many wondered how more than 250,000 citizens could have signed the petition in just ten days. This raised more suspicions throughout the week.
The suspended senator’s legal team, headed by Victor Giwa, told Saturday The Intercept that Akpoti-Uduaghan had petitioned the Kogi State police commissioner and the Inspector General over the purportedly falsified signatures in the recall petition.
A copy of the petition would also be sent to INEC, he added.
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.
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The current recall attempt against Akpoti-Uduaghan has been denounced by the Ebira People’s Association, which characterises it as a politically driven gangster plot to erode democracy.
Speaking in an interview on Saturday, the association’s Secretary, Baba Abdulrazaq, criticised 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.
