The Senator representing Kogi West Senatorial District in the Senate, Senator Dino Melaye has appealed the judgement of the Federal High Court in Abuja which on Monday dismissed his suit seeking to stop the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) from commencing his recall process from the Senate.
Melaye, in a notice of appeal filled at the Abuja Division of the Court of Appeal is asking for the setting aside of the judgement of Justice Nnamdi Dimgba, delivered on September 11, 2017 on eight grounds.
According to the notice of appeal, filled yesterday, the lawmaker said the trial judge erred in law when it held that the petition presented to INEC for his recall was valid, even when the petition exhibited by the electoral body was not signed by more than half of the registered voters in his constituency as required by Section 69 of the constitution.
He said a mere statistical analysis and general summary for the recall, done by INEC can neither replace nor take the place of the petition itself.
The Senator said Justice Dimgba erred in law to hold that the 90 days provided for by the constitution was paused since June 23, 2017 when he commenced the legal action and subsequently ordered that the period would continue to run from September 11, the date of the judgment of the trial court, even when such relief was not sought by any of the partners in the suit.
He said Dimgba erred in law when he failed to evaluate his evidence which he tendered in the cause of the trial and indeed all the evidences which conduct occasioned a mis-carriage of justice in his judgment.
The lawmaker wants the appellate court to, among other things, declare the petition purportedly presented to INEC for his recall as illegal, unlawful, wrongfully, unconstitutional, invalid, null and void and of no effect whatsoever.
Melaye is also praying the Court of Appeal to declare the recall process as illegal and unlawful and that the court should stop his recall process.
Recall that Justice Dimgba, in his judgment held that constituents of Kogi West Senatorial District were under no constitutional obligation to avail Melaye a copy of their recall petition as claimed by the lawmaker.
According to the Judge, “The duty of an aggrieved electorate is to submit a petition backed by appropriate signatures to the electoral body, while the duty of the 1st defendant (INEC) is well-defined, which is to verify the signatures, and if satisfied that they are genuine and the number meets the constitutional threshold, then it is to proceed to conduct a referendum for the recall of the legislator”.
Melaye whose amended originating summon filed on August 7, 2017 had challenged the petition for his recall on five grounds.
He told the court that INEC had violated the rule of natural justice and fair hearing by not giving him a copy of the petition and other accompanying documents.
But the trial Judge held that the electoral umpire was not under any constitutional obligation to oblige Dino Melaye the documents.
On the issue of constitutionality of required number of signatories to the petition in line with Section 69 of the Constitution, which requires more than half of registered voters in the constituency, the court held that, “It is clear from a review of materials supplied by the conduct of the statistical analysis and computation of same that all provisional preparatory measures are subject to the verification exercise which the 1st defendant (INEC) had already published.
“I do not see how this could have caused an injury to the first plaintiff. The only option open to the the plaintiff is to go through the verification exercise and ventilate any grievances that he might have there,” the judge held.
The judge equally held that: “From all that I have said so far, it becomes apparent that these complaints brought before the court are hasty, premature and probably presumptuous.”
The court, however, ordered INEC to avail Melaye a copy of the petition and other accompanying documents to enable him prepare for the stakeholders’ meeting for the commencement of the verification exercise within two weeks from the date of the delivery of the judgement.
The court also disclosed that the 90 day period for the completion of the recall process was not sacrosanct, adding that the recall process for Senator Melaye paused on July 6, 2017, when Justice John Tsoho of the Federal High Court in Abuja made an order halting the recall process.
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