The Independent National Electoral Commission INEC will return to court on Thursday to request new directives or the substituted service of the recall petition and documents on Senator Dino Melaye after the Senator “refused to accept” service.
INEC’s Director of Voter Education and Publicity Department, Mr Oluwole Osaze-Uzzi, said this on Tuesday after efforts by the commission to formally serve Senator Melaye the petition it received from his constituents to recall him met a brick wall.
Officials of the commission and the bailiff of the Federal High Court had stormed the Senate to serve Senator Melaye, but his office was locked.
“Well, the bailiff of the Federal High Court, on behalf of the commission, went to attempt to serve Senator Melaye this afternoon, but Senator Melaye refused to accept service from the bailiff of the court,” Osaze-Uzzi said in a phone interview on Channels Television’s Politics Today.
Consequently, officials of the commission and the bailiff dropped bags containing the petition and accompanying documents in front of the office and waited for several minutes to serve Senator Melaye.
Mr Osaze-Uzzi explained the development means that the commissioner will head back to court.
He said, “You will recall that in his statement he said documents were not made available to him. We have tried to make the documents available to him through the court and the court bailiff but he has declined to accept the service.
“So, on Thursday we will report back to court what has transpired and probably ask for substituted service.”
