Hot SourceFor Hadiza Natasha Akpoti-Uduaghan, the distinguished senator representing Kogi Central in the National Assembly, the battles are closing in on all sides. Her suspension at the Senate still stands illegal and political as it is. But she has not been lying down. She has made her case against the leadership of the Senate on various international platforms. She has remained unwavering in her belief that she was sexually harassed by Godswill Akpabio, the senate president.
While the Senate, increasingly discredited with every move it makes, hurriedly found a hangar in its rules book to slam her with a six-months’ suspension, many Nigerians believe that her allegations against the senate president hold water.
Apparently, however, some of her constituents in Kogi Central Senatorial Zone do not think her allegations hold water, neither do they think that they can stomach a situation where the senator representing them in the National Assembly is suspended for six months.
On March 24, 2025, led by one Charity Ijese, some constituents from Kogi Central Senatorial Zone stormed the headquarters of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) in Abuja with a petition to recall Akpoti-Uduaghan. According to her, they had gathered about 250,000 signatures out of 488,000 constituents.
Now, Section 69 and 110 of the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria 1999 (as amended) provides that a senator can be recalled if the conditions under the section are fulfilled.
It is not unforeseeable that senator Akpoti-Uduaghan could be recalled. If her constituents satisfy the requirements for a recall, why not? But it will be a rare case of a senator recalled, if not the first since 1999. The early signs indicate that the forces bent on recalling her face an uphill task.
The senator is battle-hardened and her travails in the Senate are only but her latest scars. She fought tooth and nail to make it to the Senate in the first place. In the 2023 elections, though she was clearly the people’s choice, it took a decisive decision of the Court of Appeal to rescue her victory after it was stolen by forces loyal to Yahaya Bello, then incumbent governor of the state.
Immediately after her victory at the court of Appeal, a tumultuous crowd welcomed her back home when she returned to the zone to thank the people for their support.
She was only sworn in November 2023, but she is said to have worked wonders for her people with some of them saying they had never seen anyone like her.
It is why the recall attempt is doomed to fail. It is clearly covered in the fingerprints of those with whom she mopped the floor in the 2023 elections in Kogi State and those who she has thus far thoroughly embarrassed in the senate.
Already, the recall descended into a farce when the brains behind it were exposed as luring her unsuspecting constituents to give their signatures through a fake empowerment program.
Nigerians have a painfully short attention span, but this time around, they must strive to pay a little longer attention to this case. It is way beyond Senator Akpoti-Uduaghan as a person. It is more about institutional oppression, women participation in politics and a legislature that is prepared to impose its will on Nigerians no matter how odious.
Kene Obiezu,
