Senator Dino Melaye has filed an appeal at the Supreme Court, seeking an order restraining the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) from proceeding with his recall from the Senate.
The appeal by Melaye, who represents Kogi West Senatorial District at the National Assembly, is sequel to a judgement delivered by the Court of Appeal on March 16, 2018, which had cleared the coast for INEC to continue with the recall process.
In a notice of appeal filed by Mr Mike Ozekome, the lawmaker wants an order of perpetual injunction restraining INEC from commencing or further continuing with his recall process or acting on the purported petition presented to the electoral body by some of his purported constituents.
Apart from urging the apex court to allow his appeal, Senator Melaye asked the Supreme Court to set aside the judgement of the Court of Appeal which ordered INEC to commence with the recall process.
In the appeal, the lawmaker is also seeking an order declaring the petition purportedly presented to INEC for his recall as illegal, unlawful, wrongful, unconstitutional, invalid, null, and void and of no effect whatsoever.
The appellate court had in its judgement dismissed all the grounds of appeal filed by Senator Melaye and held that the 90 days stipulated by the Constitution within which a recall process would take place “has no time limit as it can be extended”.
Hours after the judgement, Melaye rejected the ruling of the Appeal Court and vowed to appeal it at the apex court.
“Though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I fear no evil. The battle to continue to speak the truth and fight for the oppressed civil servants and people of Kogi State is a battle of no retreat, no surrender. Every lie has an expiry date. I shall overcome,” he had told Channels Television while reacting to the appellate court judgement.
On his part, INEC’s Director of Publicity and Voter Education, Mr Oluwole Osaze-Uzzi, had said the electoral umpire would proceed with the process for the recall of the lawmaker in line with the ruling.
Osaze-Uzzi said the commission would get in touch with Senator Melaye and ask him to give it an agent after which it would conduct a verification exercise for the signatories to the recall petition.
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