Despite efforts by the senator representing Kogi West, Dino Melaye to stop his recall, the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, on Monday released the time table that will trigger the recall process.
Senator Melaye, had through his lawyer, Mike Ozekhome (SAN), asked a Federal High Court Abuja, in suit No. FHC/ABJ/CS/587/2017, to stop the bid to recall him, alleging, among other things, that some of those who purportedly signed his recall were dead.
INEC had been duly notified of the pending case by Mr. Ozekhome, but spokesman of the electoral body, Rotimi Oyekanmi said on Monday that instituting a suit alone is not enough to stop the recall process.
It thus appear that Mr. Melaye has failed in his bid to use the courts to frustrate his recall by his constituents.
However, the senator accuses Governor Yahaya Bello of masterminding and engineering the attempt to disgrace him out of the Nigerian Senate.
According to the timetable 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 | A |
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