A fresh wave of political manipulation has hit Kogi State. Politicians loyal to former Governor Yahaya Bello have been caught deceiving residents with a sham empowerment programme to extract their signatures and voter details for the ongoing recall process against Senator Natasha Akpoti-Uduaghan.
Multiple videos circulating online confirm that unsuspecting residents were lured in with the promise of financial aid and support, only to be tricked into unknowingly endorsing the recall campaign against the embattled senator.
In one of the videos, a resident can be heard exposing the fraudulent scheme, saying, “We are not here for the recall process of Natasha. We are here for an empowerment. And we were given instructions to come with our voter cards. They told us to come here for empowerment with our voter cards.”
Update: Reports from Kogi are suggesting that, the people who “signed” the Natasha recall forms, were deceived they were registering for a cash empowerment program.
— Trending Explained (@TrendingEx) March 19, 2025
Kogi Translation: “You people are shameless, selling our daughter for Akpabio. Who is akpabio?!” https://t.co/JkN8xiF5q4 pic.twitter.com/4dfrIRUNqA
Another resident, who identified herself as Mrs. Joseph, described the process as a scam.
“I call the recall process a mess. Nobody was aware of it at all. These people deceived them with the promise of empowerment. It was only when we arrived that many of us realised this was not normal,” the resident said.
She added: “People started leaving. I see it as a fraud, and they are doing something the people do not support. I myself do not support it, and the majority of people in this local government are against it.”
They accused people loyal to Yahaya Bello of being behind the deception. A young man at the scene also confirmed the deception.
He said: “Early this morning, we were informed that we should come for empowerment. When we got to the field, we were asked to bring our voter cards. We asked why because we were told this was just an empowerment. Then they gave us a form to fill in with our VIN (Voter Identification Number) and signature. Most of us refused because we knew empowerment is not done this way.”
These are the people now speaking up against the kangaroo recall of Sen Natasha
— oseni rufai (@ruffydfire) March 19, 2025
INEC is also speaking against this recall pic.twitter.com/N20uKKbV2L
According to the sources, the deception is part of a larger plot orchestrated by Yahaya Bello and Senate President Godswill Akpabio to remove Senator Natasha Akpoti-Uduaghan from office forcefully.
Earlier, SaharaReporters exclusively reported that Bello, with Akpabio’s backing, had launched a recall process against Natasha just weeks after her controversial suspension from the Senate.
Credible sources revealed that Akpabio and Bello struck a $2 million (N3 billion) deal to finance the recall effort. Insiders say part of their strategy involves manipulating INEC records by forging voters’ signatures and coercing the commission into validating fraudulent documents.
Despite Bello and his loyalists’ desperate attempts, residents of Kogi Central are resisting. Many have refused to sign the recall documents, exposing the fraud behind the process.
“We are saying we don’t want to recall Natasha because she has been delivering for us since she joined the Senate,” a constituent told SaharaReporters.
