Olusola Fabiyi, Abuja


The Independent National Electoral Commission says it has formally notified Senator Dino Melaye of the demand by the people of his constituency to recall him from the Senate.

It said that the decision to inform Melaye was taken at its meeting held in Abuja on Thursday, where the petition submitted by voters in Kogi West Senatorial District was considered.

The commission also said that it would issue a notice to the petitioners and Melaye on July 3, on when it would begin the verification of the signatures of those who signed the notice.

INEC ’ s National Commissioner and member Information and Voter Education Committee, Madam Mohammed Haruna, disclosed the commission ’ s decision in a statement in Abuja .

Aggrieved voters from Melaye ’ s constituency were at the commission ’ s headquarters in Abuja on Wednesday where they presented their petition on their demand for the recall of the senator.

Haruna said , “ INEC has held its regular weekly meeting today and considered the petition submitted by whole registered voters from Kogi West senatorial district to kickstart the process of recalling Senator Dino Melaye.

“ In accordance with the INEC guidelines for the recall of members of the National Assembly, the Commission has finally acknowledged the receipt of the petition to the petitioners representatives and has conveyed a letter notifying Senator Dino Melaye of our receipt of the petition.

“ The next step is to verify that the petitioners are registered voters in Kogi West senatorial district.

“ INEC will on July 3, 2017, issue public notice stating dates, time , location and other details for the verification of the exercise. ”

Kogi West , which Melaye represents in the Senate , has seven local governments areas.

Signatures and petitions from each of the local government areas were packaged in seven bags, which were tagged according to the names of the local governments, and submitted to the commission.

The local governments and the percentage of voters who signed the recall petition showed that Yagba West had the highest number of voters asking Melaye to return home from the Senate.

The breakdown, as shown in the petition is: Yagba West, 55.7percent; Lokoja, 54.8percent; Kogi, 52.77percent; Yagba East, 52 percent; Ijumu (Melaye’s local government ), 51.8 percent; Mopa /Moro, 50.4percent and Kabba/Bunu, 46.7percent.

A prominent member of the All Progressives Congress in Ijumu, Mr. Cornelius Olowo, who led the delegation had insisted that the constituents were not satisfied with the quality of Melaye's representation.

He had said, “ We want Senator Melaye back because of poor representation, he is also not accessible to us, he is unreadable and has no constituency projects.

“Apart from the fact that he has never called any town hall meeting, there has been a major gap between the senator and the people he claims to represent. ”

lalasticlala

simpul:
Its becoming a reality gradually and Dino will be there still laughing until it will hit him like a tsunami.

The steps are:

1 More than half of the registered voters in the Senator’s senatorial district write, sign and send a petition to the Chairman of the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC alleging their loss of confidence in the senatorial

2 The petition must be signed, and arranged according to polling units, wards, Local Government Areas, and constituency.

3 INEC notifies the Senator sought to be recalled, stating that it has received a petition for his or her recall, if the petition is valid

4 INEC issues a public notice or announcement stating the date, time and location of the verification of signatures to the petition

5 INEC verifies the signatures to the petition at the designation. The signatories must be individuals who appear on the voters’ register.

6 INEC conducts a referendum if more than one half (50% + 1) of the signatories are verified

7 INEC writes to the petitioners stating that the minimum requirements for a referendum were not met, if the number verified is less than one half of the registered voters in that constituency. The petition will therefore be dismissed.

8 INEC conducts a referendum within 90 days of receipt of the petition if the minimum requirements for a referendum are met. The referendum will be a simple yes or no vote on whether the Senator should be recalled, and will be decided by simple majority of the votes of the persons registered to vote in that Senator’s constituency.

9 If majority of the voters in the constituency vote ‘yes’ the Chairman of the INEC will send a Certificate of Recall to the Senate President to effect the recall.

10 The Senate President will show affected senator the way out of the Senate.

Read more at: http://www.vanguardngr.com/2016/07/10-steps-recall-senator-nigeria

MaziOmenuko:
It haff begun. In case you are not yet up to date, here are the 10 steps involved in recalling a senator:



As it is, steps 1 - 4 has been achieved. The verification involved in steps 5 and 6 are near formality, I am sure that INEC will do that one with ease.
So the major step remaining is step 8 which is just like an election; but in this case, it will be a vote to recall and majority will win. I think the hard part has been achieved. The next step should be easier.

It will be interesting to see how Dino scales thru this one. Will he:

A. Go to court to stop the process or wait to see the end?
B. Lobby to have more voters on the day of actual referendum (this is the riskiest step)

His only move will be to go to court and try to frustrate the process. From the lower courts to appeal and to supreme while a court injuction is given to hurt the process until the final judgement.

It just 22 months till the end of his tenure, I guess he would go to court.

But then, this is interesting for our democracy.

MaziOmenuko:
It haff begun. In case you are not yet up to date, here are the 10 steps involved in recalling a senator:



As it is, steps 1 - 4 has been achieved. The verification involved in steps 5 and 6 are near formality, I am sure that INEC will do that one with ease.
So the major step remaining is step 8 which is just like an election; but in this case, it will be a vote to recall and majority will win. I think the hard part has been achieved. The next step should be easier.

It will be interesting to see how Dino scales thru this one. Will he:

A. Go to court to stop the process or wait to see the end?
B. Lobby to have more voters on the day of actual referendum (this is the riskiest step)

His only move will be to go to court and try to frustrate the process. From the lower courts to appeal and to supreme while a court injuction is given to hurt the process until the final judgement.

It just 22 months till the end of his tenure, I guess he would go to court.

But then, this is interesting for our democracy.

MaziOmenuko:
It haff begun. In case you are not yet up to date, here are the 10 steps involved in recalling a senator:



As it is, steps 1 - 4 has been achieved. The verification involved in steps 5 and 6 are near formality, I am sure that INEC will do that one with ease.
So the major step remaining is step 8 which is just like an election; but in this case, it will be a vote to recall and majority will win. I think the hard part has been achieved. The next step should be easier.

It will be interesting to see how Dino scales thru this one. Will he:

A. Go to court to stop the process or wait to see the end?
B. Lobby to have more voters on the day of actual referendum (this is the riskiest step)

His only move will be to go to court and try to frustrate the process. From the lower courts to appeal and to supreme while a court injuction is given to hurt the process until the final judgement.

It just 22 months till the end of his tenure, I guess he would go to court.

But then, this is interesting for our democracy.