Dino Melaye, the Senator representing Kogi West, has filed an
appeal at the Supreme Court, seeking an order restraining the INEC from
proceeding with his recall from the Senate.
Mr Melaye’s appeal is sequel to a judgment delivered by the Court
of Appeal on March 16, which gave INEC the go-ahead to continue with the
recall.
In a notice of appeal filed by his Counsel, Mike Ozekome, SAN, Mr
Melaye wanted an order of perpetual injunction restraining INEC from
commencing or further continuing with his recall or acting on the
purported petition.
Mr Melaye also asked the apex court to set aside the March 16 judgment of the Court of Appeal.
He further sought an order declaring the petition purportedly
presented to INEC by some purported constituents for his recall as
illegal, unlawful, wrongful, unconstitutional, invalid, null and void
and of no effect.
Mr Melaye, in addition, prayed for a declaration that the recall
purportedly initiated against him by INEC and on the basis of the
petition was illegal since it commenced on the basis of an invalid
petition.
In addition, Mr Melaye asked the apex court to declare that the 90
days period as provided for under Section 69(b) of the 1999 Constitution
as amended had elapsed.
According to him, having elapsed, INEC can no longer proceed on the basis of the purported petition.
He said the Court of Appeal erred in law when it held that it was not for the court to verify the signature on the petition.
He said the court held that it was the duty of INEC, by reason of
which the court failed to invalidate the petition presented to INEC.
It would be recalled that the appellate court had in its judgment
delivered by Justice Tunde Awotoye, leading two other justices,
dismissed all the grounds of appeal filed by Mr Melaye.
The appellate court held that the 90 days stipulated by the
constitution within which a recall process would take place had no time
limit as it could be extended.
Justice Nnamdi Dimgba of the Federal High Court, Abuja, had on
Sept. 11, 2017, dismissed a suit filed by Mr Melaye, seeking to stop
INEC from initiating his recall from the National Assembly.
Mr Dimgba held that Mr Melaye’s complaints were hasty, premature
and presumptuous and therefore ordered the INEC to go ahead with its
planned verification.
-NAN