‘Recall Buu Nygren’ committee file over 11,000 signatures Monday
Navajo Times | Nicholas House
Debbie Nez-Manuel, left, and Elaine Henderson, right, carry a petition to recall President Buu Nygren in a shawl on Monday in Window Rock. The women led a group from the Navajo Nation Fairgrounds to the Navajo Nation Election Office.
WINDOW ROCK
Over 11,000 people have signed a petition to recall President Buu Nygren. The 774-page petition was filed today, March 3, at the Navajo Nation Election Office.
Debbie Nez-Manuel and Elaine Henderson carried the petition in a gray shawl as they walked with a group from the Navajo Nation Fairgrounds to the election office. The petition claims that Nygren breached his fiduciary duty to the Diné by failing to fulfill his responsibilities and engaging in misconduct. It cites frequent turnover among his appointees and allegations of sexual harassment, including those made by Vice President Richelle Montoya.
The “Recall President Buu Nygren” committee, led by Nez-Manuel, the former Division of Human Resources executive director, began collecting signatures in August 2024 saying the president “bambuuzled” the Diné.
As of March 1, the committee collected 11,193 signatures, according to Nez-Manuel. At least 29,803 validated signatures are required to recall the president, according to the committee. An elected official may be removed from office if 60 percent of the registered voters who voted in the last election – for the office in question – signed the recall petition, according to Title 11 of the Navajo Nation Code.
Election officials on Monday evening informed Nez-Manuel that they have 30 days to count all signatures and give an official number.
Though the committee pulled close to over a third of the required signatures needed, Nez-Manuel and her team say they are proud of what they’ve accomplished and continue to advocate for their cause. A staffer at the president’s office said the president would be releasing a statement sometime tomorrow on the matter. Nygren did not want to speak with the Navajo Times.
Nez-Manuel said, “This is not the end.”
“As we march today to file the Recall Navajo Nation President Buu Nygren recall petitions, we reflect on the purpose as a learning curve and not as a failed challenge,” Henderson said in a statement to the Navajo Times. “The Diné have long been guided by choices of survival.
“We picked our leaders to carry us through the hardest of times and ensure the survival of the people,” she added. “These leaders represented different skills and abilities to address the challenges we faced as a people. The power of these leaders came from us, from the trust we placed in them to move us forward and to help us survive.”
Read more in the March 6, edition of the Navajo Times.
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