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Court Orders Continuation Of Senator Melaye’s Recall Process

The Court of Appeal sitting in Abuja has ruled that the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), can continue with the recall process of the senator … Continue reading Court Orders Continuation Of Senator Melaye’s Recall Process


INEC Accuses Melaye Of Frustrating Recall Process
File photo
INEC Accuses Melaye Of Frustrating Recall Process
File photo

The Court of Appeal sitting in Abuja has ruled that the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), can continue with the recall process of the senator representing Kogi West senatorial district in the National Assembly, Senator Dino Melaye.

Justice Tunde Awotoye, leading two other justices on Friday, read the lead judgement.

The appellate court held that the 90 days stipulated by the Constitution within which a recall process will take place “has no time limitation”.

It also held that the lower court ought not to have entertained Melaye’s suit ab initio.

Consequently, in a unanimous decision, the court dismissed the appeal filed by Melaye against the judgment delivered by Justice Nnamdi Dimgba at the Federal High Court in 2017, on grounds that there was no cause of action.

Justice Dimgba had on September 11, 2017 dismissed the suit filed by Senator Melaye, seeking to stop INEC from initiating his recall from the National Assembly.

He held that senator Melaye’s complaints were ‘hasty, premature and presumptuous” and therefore ordered INEC to go ahead with its planned verification exercise of the 188,588 registered voters who were said to have signed in support of the recall process.

The 188,588 voters were said to have constituted 52.3 per cent of the 360,098 total registered voters in the Kogi west senatorial district.