The attempt by Kogi West Senator, Dino Melaye to stop his recall was on Friday rebuffed by the Abuja Division of the Court of Appeal when it dismissed an appeal by the senator challenging the validity of the process of his recall embarked upon by the Independent National Electoral Commission.
In an unanimous judgment, a three-man panel of the appeal court also dismissed the suit which Melaye had filed before the Federal High Court in Abuja to challenge the validity of the recall process.
This means that the preconditions earlier given by the Federal High Court in Abuja for INEC to fulfill before continuing the recall had been set aside.
The judgment by the appellate court, has now cleared the way for INEC to continue the recall process which had been stalled since June 23, 2017 when Melaye sought the protection of the courts.
According to the court, contrary to Melaye’s contention, the 90 days provided by the 1999 Constitution for the recall process to be concluded had not run out but had been paused since July 6, 2017, when Justice Tsoho of the Federal High Court made an order halting the process.
The appeal court also dismissed the allegation of denial of fair hearing leveled against INEC by Melaye.
The court said, “The powers of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) is a statutory one given by the constitution and not even the court can take away the powers of INEC to conduct a referendum.
Recall that Justice Nnamdi Dimgba of the Federal High Court in Abuja, to whom the case was later reassigned, had in his judgment delivered on September 11, 2017, dismissed Melaye’s suit, but gave a pre-condition for INEC to continue with the recall exercise.
As the pre-condition for the process to continue the court ordered INEC to serve Mr. Melaye with the recall petition and the accompanying documents, including the signatures of the about one-half of the constituents calling for his recall.
However, Senator Melaye appealed that judgment.
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