Melaye’s Recall: Exercise In Futility….Ekweremadu

The Deputy President of the Senate, Ike Ekweremadu, has said the move to recall the representative of Kogi West Senatorial District, Dino Melaye, was an exercise in futility.
Ekweremadu said this on Tuesday during the Senate plenary.
This followed a point of order raised by Melaye on the move to recall him.
Citing Order 14, Melaye said the process of his recall was masterminded by the Kogi State Government and the Senate should act accordingly.
He said out of the signatures collated for his recall, he had the death certificate of no fewer than 120 of them, as released by the National Population Commission.
He equally alleged that those who compiled the signatures based on which he is to be recalled simply copied the over 188,000 names in his senatorial district in the register of the Independent National Electoral Commission for the purpose.
Melaye said for the election that produced him, about 118,000 votes was cast for the nine candidates that contested.
He thus wondered how the signatures of over 188,000 persons were collected by those who initiated his recall, adding that there was no centre where people went to for the exercise.
Speaking on the issue, Ekweremadu said the recall process is dead on arrival going by the constitution.
He said it is a long process.
He said after the verification of the signatures by INEC, the Senate would also verify the legitimacy of the votes before a conclusion is made.
He stated that the recall process of Melaye is an exercise in futility as there are provisions and procedures to be followed.
Ekweremadu listed a number of procedures involved.
He stated that Section 69 of the Constitution is the reason Melaye cannot be recalled.
An amendment to that section was done in 2010.
Ekweremadu said by the amendment, those who signed the recall register will have to come out and line up in Kogi State for verification.