Ebira indigenes have condemned claims that the recall process against the lawmaker representing Kogi Central in the National Assembly, Senator Natasha Akpoti-Uduaghan, was not backed by the majority of the electorate in the district.
The indigenes, drawn from the five local government areas of Kogi Central, reiterated their commitment to the recall, stating that the embarrassment caused by the embattled senator had taken an “international dimension.”
This position was contained in a statement on Thursday, jointly signed by the President and Secretary of the Kogi Central Elites Forum, Alhaji Ibrahim Ibrahim and Prince Akerejola Johnson of Ogori/Magongo LGA, respectively.
The constituents urged Nigerians to dismiss what they described as “deliberate mischief” by Akpoti-Uduaghan’s camp, which suggested that people were deceived into supporting the recall exercise.
“No one is sponsoring this recall. Our people are largely united on this cause. From the history of Ebiras, you know we cannot be deceived. What she has done has been mainly propaganda. Even some of us that supported her on social media then are no longer with her. We cannot trade the integrity of the state and Nigeria for a Senator’s selfish, juvenile tendencies.
“A matter as simple as not taking an assigned seat in the Senate should not be one that would warrant a ‘sexual harassment’ national embarrassment of this nature, especially where all evidence point to blackmail. This is not who we are as Ebiras,” the statement read.