By Emmanuel Oloniruha
The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) has said it will verify the signatures of petitioners for the recall of Sen. Dino Melaye, from the Senate on July 3.
Mallam Mohammed Haruna, National Commissioner and Member, Information and Voter Education Committee of the commission said the commission had received the petition for the recall.
The electorate in Kogi West Senatorial District on Wednesday submitted petition to INEC in Abuja, demanding the recall of Melaye on grounds of poor representation in the Red Chamber.
The commission, which acknowledged receipt of the petition, said that decision to begin the process in the constituents’ demand was reached at its meeting on Thursday.
“The next step is to verify that the petitioners are registered voters in Kogi West Senatorial District.
“INEC will on July 3, 2017 issue a public notice stating the day(s), time and other details for the verification exercise,’’ it stated.
The constituents of Kogi West, led by Chief Cornelius Olowo, had shortly after submitting the petition, told the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) that the move to recall Malaye was based on his “abysmal performance’’.
He also said that the lawmaker had been disconnected from the electorate since he was elected to represent the district in 2015.
Olowo accused the senator of distancing himself from his constituents.
He said that no fewer than 180,500 registered voters out of the 360,000 of them in the senatorial district had endorsed the recall of the senator.
A total of 188, 588 voters, representing 52.3 per cent of the total number of registered voters in Kogi West senatorial district have approved the recall of Melaye.
The Special Adviser to the state governor on political affairs, Mr Pius Kolawole announced on Monday in Lokoja while addressing party members from the district.
He said that the collation of signatures of voters to that effect was carried out successfully on June 17.
Kolawole commended voters in the district for turning out en masse for the exercise, saying that Section 69 of the 1999 constitution backed their action.
“In 2015, we voted for Dino and now we are using the same method to return him home,” he said.(NAN)
