188,588 Sign Petition for Melaye’s Recall

Yekini Jimoh in Lokoja
A total of 188,588 people from Kogi West senatorial district in Kogi State have signed for the recall of Senator Dino Melaye from the National Assembly.

The process began two weeks ago when the people of Kogi West across the seven local government councils trooped out to formally sign for the recall of the senator.

A chieftain of All Progressives Congress (APC) from Kogi West, Hon. Pious Kolawole, while addressing the people of the district at the state party secretariat in Lokoja yesterday, said as electorate, there is a law that empowers them to recall their representative if they are not satisfied with his activities.

He pointed out that the recall of Melaye cuts across all political parties that registered and voted during the election in Kogi West, adding that it was not only an APC affair.

“We have collated the wards registration which was done in Kabba, the headquarters of the district.
“Alhaji Yahaya Bello is our governor, our leader and our father, but let me tell you that he has no hand in the recall of Melaye.
“We asked the state government not to intervene in the matter because it is purely the electorate from the district who have decided to recall him based on cogent reasons,” he said.

Meanwhile, the returning officer for the recall of Melaye, Mallam Ademu Yusuf, while announcing the result from the seven local government areas, said the collation was done last Saturday in Kabba, the headquarters of Kogi West senatorial district.
According to him, in Yagba East, out of 35,331 registered voters, 18,374 signed while in Yagba West, out of 35,966 registered voters, 20,029 signed.

In Mopa-Amuro, out of 18,356 registered voters, 9,186 signed; Kabba-Bunu has 60,522 registered voters, 28,277 signed; Kogi has 46,810 registered voters, 27,703 signed, Lokoja has 116,296 registered voters, 63,736 signed while in Ijumu, out of 46,819 registered voters, 24,283 signed.

Mallam Yusuf noted that out of the 360,098 total numbers of registered voters in all the seven local government areas, 188,588 registered voters signed the recall of Melaye.
“Constitutional requirement for recall is 50.1 percent of the registered voters and already we have 52.1 percent,” he noted.