Only Senate can determine Melaye’s fate —Saraki

THE Senate, on Tuesday, insisted that the Kogi State government is behind the ongoing recall process being carried out by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) against the senator representing Kogi West Senatorial District, Senator Dino Melaye.

The Senate also declared that the chamber would have the final say on the ongoing recall process against the Kogi senator.

The Senate arrived at the conclusion following a point of order raised by the Deputy Senate President, Senator Ike Ekweremadu, at the Tuesday’s plenary.

Ekweremadu had called the attention of the Senate to some advertorials published by the Attorney General (AG) and Commissioner for Justice in Kogi State, Ibrahim Sani Mohammed, on Monday.

The attorney-general had, in the advertorial, disagreed with the submissions made by the Deputy Senate President, last week during Senate’s deliberation on the recall process, and insisted that the Senate had no role in the recall process.

According to him “A situation where the Deputy Senate President would, on the floor of the Senate, describe a lawful exercise of recall initiated by the good people of Kogi West Senatorial District as an exercise in futility or posits that the constituents are wasting precious time is highly regrettable and condemnable.

“I must also put on record that contrary to the legal opinion of Senator Ekweremadu on the role of the Senate in the recall process, the Senate has no role whatsoever in the exercise than to receive the certificate under the hand of the chairman of INEC, stating the provisions of Section 69 of the constitution have been complied with in line with sections 68(h) and 69 of the 1999 Constitution.

“Indeed, by the provisions of INEC regulations for the recall of a legislator, a legislator stands recalled upon INEC’s confirmation of a majority vote in favour of the recall.”

But Ekweremadu, who raised Order 43 of the Senate Standing Rule 2015, as amended, said that submissions by the attorney-general were faulty.

Ekweremadu said: “This morning, my attention was drawn to a three-page advertorial by AG of Kogi State in some national dailies. I would have ignored him but because of his statement in the final paragraph stating that ‘I must put on record that contrary to the legal opinion of Senator Ekweremadu on the role of the Senate in recall process, the Senate has no role whatsoever in the recall exercise than to receive the certificate from the Chairman of INEC stating that the provision of Section 69 of the Constitution has been complied with.’

“He is saying that the Senate has no role. I stand by what I said the other day and I would like to take him to Section 68(1H) and (2) to show him the role of the Senate, which he says has no role.

“I don’t know how he came to conclusion that we don’t have a role. I stand by my position. So, I pity the people of Kogi State that hired this type of AG. It is unfortunate that we are paying a public servant and he is unable to do a simple work of looking at the constitution.

“Let me emphasise that this 68(2) is not part of the amendment we made to the constitution. This has been the original provision of the constitution, so we did not effect it. It has nothing to do with Dino Melaye or whosoever. We inherited this provision since 1999. It has been there.”

Senate President, Bukola Saraki, in his remarks, agreed with the Deputy Senate President.

He declared that the advertorial showed that the recall exercise against Senator Melaye was engineered by the state government.

Saraki Said: “The Deputy President of the Senate came under Order 43 and according to our rules, it cannot be further debated, but honestly I am concerned with the calibre of people holding very senior positions in the land. Even, those of us who only have association with the legal profession by being married to one have learnt over the years to know that this is straightforward.

“What is even more disturbing and irresponsible is how the state government spent about N10 million on adverts. I have been a governor, when you file money for advert, it is a difficult issue.

“This shows that it is government that is truly behind the entire process. This is a very simple matter in the constitution.”