My recall process has expired —Senator Melaye

THE senator representing Kogi West Senatorial District of Kogi State, Senator Dino Melaye, on Monday, disclosed that the ongoing recall process being carried out against him by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) on account of petitions received from some registered voters from his constituents for that purpose has expired.

The expiration, according to him, was in view of provisions of Section 69(b) of the 1999 Constitution as amended, 90 days duration specified for such exercise has passed since the process started on June 23.

Melaye, who addressed newsmen on the lingering recall process, stated:” A member of the Senate or of the House of Representatives may be recalled as such a member if there is presented to the Chairman of the Independent National Electoral Commission a petition in that behalf signed by more than one-half of the persons registered to vote in that member’s constituency alleging their loss of confidence in that member and which signatures are duly verified by INEC.

“The petition is, thereafter, in a referendum conducted by INEC within 90 days of the date of receipt of the petition, approved by a simple majority of the voters of the persons registered to vote in that member’s constituency’. …”

According to him, for INEC to still be forging ahead with a process that had outlived constitutionally-stipulated duration showed that the electoral body was out to violate the laws of the land in the bid of carrying out the wish of some selfish politicians in Kogi State.

Specifically, he alleged that the state governor, Yahaya Bello and Senator Smart Adeyemi were behind the recall process based on a petition signed by only three persons in flagrant violation of constitutional provisions for that purpose.

The lawmaker stressed that the whole process would hit the brick wall of failure in the face of the law as he had appealed against a judgment, he claimed, was fraudulently obtained by INEC and its sponsors.

“I celebrate the obituary of the “made-in-Taiwan ‘ recall exercise while sympathising with the induced petitioners who will obviously face charges of forgery and other criminal charges before a court of law very, very soon,” he said.

Reacting to Melaye’s assertion, lawyers said he was wrong in his claims.

The lawyers stated that his interpretation of the law in the matter was faulty and novel, especially since he had used the court to truncate the due process of the recall procedure.

Speaking with the Nigerian Tribune, an Abuja-based lawyer and rights activist, Osuagwu Ugochukwu, said the provision was strange based on the circumstances of the situation. “This provision is novel. Because Melaye had already activated the judicial process to halt the conduct of the recall process, the question is whether the 60 days provided for in Section 69(b) of the constitution stops to run from the date the court issued the injunction to halt the recall.

“One must be cautious here because the said Section 69(b) never provided that the 60 days time can be halted pending court determination. I think this can be tested further by seeking for judicial interpretation by INEC or Melaye,” Osuagwu stated.

Also speaking,e former chairman of the Nigerian Bar Association, Ikeja Branch, Dave Ajetomobi, said it could not be said that the time has lapsed.

According to him, “the break-in process was caused by Dino going to court, I think in so far as the processing delay was not caused by INEC, it cannot be seriously contended that time has lapsed.

“I want to believe that since it will amount to self-help to continue while the case was pending in court; it will not be okay to say the period of court proceedings form part of the constitutionally stipulated time.

“If it does, then it will be a further dent on the already bad reputation of the Nigerian judiciary. It will mean that the judiciary is complicit in the sabotage of the people’s will; that is grossly unfortunate. If the process is eventually aborted, Nigerians should hold the judiciary responsible,” Ajetomobi said.

On his part, Lagos-based lawyer and activist, Ikechukwu Ikeji, said Melaye was wrong as the time stopped reading once the case went to a court of law.

“He is wrong. As soon as the court takes over the case, time for recall should stop running. Note again that Justice Dimgba had held that time starts counting after his judgment. So I don’t agree that the 90 days have passed,” he concluded.