Following A’Court Judgment, INEC to Commence Process of Recalling Melaye

Yekini Jimoh in Lokoja

After an Appeal Court sitting in Abuja gave order that Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) can recall Senator Dino Melaye, the Kogi State Independent National Electoral Commission (KSINEC) has said it is set to commence the process of recalling the Senator representing Kogi West senatorial district of the state.

The appeal court had last week thrown out Melaye suit challenging the move to recall him. The state Resident Electoral Commissioner (REC), Professor James Apam, disclosed this yesterday during a stakeholders’ meeting in Lokoja.

He said following the appeal court ruling that INEC can commence the recall process, the commission has fixed the last Saturday of April as the verification date.

INEC also fixed first Saturday of May as the day a referendum would be conducted in line with the electoral laws.

According to him, “On this day, the commission will endeavour to invite all those who have signed the recall register to come forward and identify their signature.”

He noted that if this process is successful, the commission will proceed to the next stage where a referendum of all registered voters would be conducted.
“Here, voters will be asked to vote either yes or no to the question of whether they want Melaye recalled. If the answer is able to meet the constitutional requirements of 50 plus 1 percent yes, the process would move to the next stage, but if it fails, the process would stop,” the REC said.

Apam stated that as a law-abiding people, INEC will not do anything outside the dictate of the law, and that is why we have to wait till after the judgement before going ahead with the process.

“On the continuous voters registration, Apam said 210,000 permanent voters cards (PVC) are ready for collection but expressed worry that owners have refused to come forward to collect them.

He called on all stakeholders present to pass on the information to voters.

However, Senator Melaye has vowed to proceed to the Supreme court in a bid to stop INEC from proceeding with the process.