The Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, on Monday released the time table for the recall of the senator representing Kogi West, Dino Melaye on Monday.
The decision of the electoral umpire is coming amidst efforts by Mr. Melaye’s lawyer to stop the commission from kick starting the process.
INEC had last week acknowledged receiving a petition from Mr. Melaye’s constituents asking to recall him. About 52 per cent of registered voters in the lawmaker’s constituency are believed to have signed the petition.
The commission had also written to the senator intimating him formally of its receipt of the petition and that it would kickstart the process on July 3.
Earlieron Monday while speaking to PREMIUM TIMES over the telephone, spokesperson of INEC, Rotimi Oyekanmi, said the commission would meet to decide on the timetable.
“Yes, it is true we received a letter from his lawyer but that is just an intention to go to court, the case has not been heard so you can’t say we should stop our process because he wants to go to court. He can go to court and pursue whatever he wants to, but we’ll go on with our process,” he said.
Mr. Melaye, had through his lawyer, Mike Ozekhome, filed a suit at a Federal High Court in Abuja with No. FHC/ABJ/CS/587/2017 challenging the bid to recall him.
Mr. Ozekhome, thereafter, wrote to INEC informing it of the suit and asking it not to commence the recall process until the matter is heard.
INEC however said instituting a suit alone is not enough to stop it.
In the timetable it released, INEC said it would verify the signatures of those calling for the recall on August 19 and publish the results same day.
See time table below:
| S/No. | ACTIVITY | DATE | REMARK |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Notice of Verification | 10 th July 2017 | To be posted at the constituency (INEC LGA Office Lokoja) |
| 2 | Last day for submission of application by interested observers | 31 st July 2017 | INEC Headquarters |
| 3 | Last day for submission of names of verification agents for the member sought to be recalled and the petitioners | 10 th August 2017 | By a letter addressed and submitted to the REC indicating the Polling Unit verification agents arranged by LGAs as well as collation agents and where they will serve |
| 4 | Stakeholders meeting | 15 th August 2017 | INEC State office |
| 5 | Conduct of Verification | 19 th August 2017 | To be held in all Polling Units in the constituency |
| 6 | Declaration of the outcome of verification | 19 th August 2017 | At the Constituency (INEC LGA Office Lokoja) |
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