The senators declared at the plenary that the various stages passed so far by INEC in the recall process had failed to follow the processes highlighted by the constitution.
The resolution by the Senate followed the point of order raised against the recall exercise by Melaye at the plenary.
The senator had raised a point of order to call the attention of his colleagues to an alleged supersonic move by INEC to conclude the recall process against him, adding that the governor of his home state, Kogi, Alhaji Yahaya Bello, was behind the plot against him.
“The score of both valid and invalid votes in the election that brought him into the Senate in 2015 was 118,000, but my governor and his appointees in four days claim they got a signature of over 188,000.
“They got INEC database of registered voters and copied in one writing into a recall register and forged all the signatures. As I speak to you, over 120 dead certificates issued by the National Population Commission and these people relations and families have sworn to affidavit and these certificates have been deposited.
“The names of all these dead people appeared on the recall register submitted to INEC. 116 of my constituency have sworn to affidavit that their names and signatures appeared in the recall register and they are not the ones that signed them.
“Eighty six of my constituents have sworn to an affidavit that they were approached that the government wants to carry out a fertiliser empowerment programme and requested for their PVCs and thereby, deceived them into putting their names in the recall register,” he said.
His submissions were supported by the Deputy Senate President, Ike Ekweremadu, who cited sections 68, 69 and other relevant provisions of the 1999 Constitution (as amended), to make his contributions.
He wondered why INEC was not following the laid-down procedure of carrying out such exercise.
Ekweremadu said: “I am wondering why we are dissipating energy on this matter and wasting precious legislative time on a matter we should not.
“What is happening in Kogi in respect of Senator Melaye as far as this constitution is concerned is an exercise in futility. They are just wasting precious time because the constitution is clear on what should happen.
“It is possible that the Attorney-General of Kogi State has not advised them properly. If he has done that, I am sure they would have applied their time to more meaningful ventures in Kogi State.”
He specifically declared that in 2010, the National Assembly amended the constitution regarding Section 69 which deals with recall process of a federal lawmaker.
According to him, as clearly stated by the section, “the number of those who are seeking for recall of Senator Melaye from the Senate are supposed to line up somewhere in Kogi State with him and his lawyers and each person would verify their signature.
“When they are done with that, they go back to Section 68, which states that the Senate President receives from the chairman of INEC the recall register. They would also present evidence satisfactory to the House or the Senate.
“So, they need to come back here and convince each and every one of us that they have done the correct thing. Unless they do that, they cannot even give effect to it. So, why are we wasting our time? Let us move on and allow them to waste their time.”
While ruling on Ekweremadu’s submission, Senate President, Dr Bukola Saraki, said: “as they say 10 years is no joke in leadership, the Deputy Senate President has explained the processes. Let the process speak for itself.
“I rarely don’t know why a lot of efforts are being wasted that should have gone on more important things. Eventually, it must come back here for us to decide whether it is satisfactory or not.”
Meanwhile, the Kogi State All Progressives Congress (APC) and 12 others have asked the Federal High Court sitting in Abuja to stop the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) from commencing the recall process of Senator Dino Melaye from the Senate.
It will be recalled that INEC, following collation of signatures, had said it would start the recall process of Melaye on July 10.
In the originating summons filed at the registry of the court on Tuesday, other plaintiffs listed alongside APC are Alhaji Haddy Ametuo, Honourable Shaibu Osune, S.T Adejo, Comrade Yahaya Ade Ismail, Chief Gbenga Ashagun, Ahovi S. Ibrahim, Ghali ND Usman, Isa Abubakar, I. Molemodile, Abubakr M. Adamu and Daniel Sekpe.
In the application, marked FHC/ABJ/CS/601/2017, the plaintiffs, through their counsel, Solomon T. Ologunorisa, asked the court to declare that the petition presented to the INEC chairman for the recall of Melaye was illegal, unlawful, wrongful and of no effect whatsoever.
They also asked the court to declare that the recall process initiated vide a purported petition against their sponsored member of the Senate by some of his constituents, pursuant to Section 69 of the 1999 Constitution, was illegal, unlawful and of no effect whatsoever.
They also prayed for an order stopping INEC from conducting any referendum based on the purported petition allegedly presented and signed by dead, fictitious and purported constituents of the plaintiffs.
No date has been fixed for hearing of the suit.
Reacting, INEC, said only a legitimate court order could stop process for the recall of Melaye as demanded by his Kogi West constituents.
Mr Rotimi Oyekanmi, chief press secretary to the chairman of the commission, stated this in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Abuja.
He said filing a lawsuit was not enough to stop the recall process.
Oyekanmi said the actions of the commission were being guided by the provisions of the constitution and the Electoral Act.
“The constituents came with sacks of documents which they said were ‘the signatures’ of more than half of the voting population of Kogi West senatorial district, which Melaye represents.
“They also presented a register of the said signatories and a letter, asking INEC to begin the process of recalling the senator representing that particular district.
“Subsequently, the commission, in exercise of the powers conferred on it by Sections 116 of the Electoral Act 2010 (as amended), on Monday, issued a timetable and schedule of activities for the recall of the senator.
“The first stage is a verification exercise slated for July 10, 2017. To that extent, filing a lawsuit is not enough to stop INEC from carrying out its legitimate duty,” he said.
On claims by Melaye that some of the signatures submitted to INEC were forged and that names of dead registered voters were also included, Oyekanmi said the process of verification would clear all that.
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