Court orders Melaye to face recall

Kogi Sen. Dino Melaye has sustained his series of lega losses as the Abuja Division of the Court of Appeal on Friday dismissed his appeal challenging the validity of the process of his recall by INEC.

Besides, the precondition given by a federal high court earlier—that Melaye should be served recall petition and othedocuments—has also been thrown out by the appellate court.

To cap it all, Melaye’s argument about violation of rights to fair hearing was also thrown out.

According to the ruling, the 90 days provided by the 1999 Constitution for the recall process to be concluded had not run out, contrary to Melaye’s contention.

The appellate court said it had only been paused since July 6, 2017 by Justice John Tsoho of the Federal High Court who halted the process.

Justice Nnamdi Dimgba of the Federal High Court in Abuja, who was reassigned to the case, dismissed Melaye’s suit last September, and gave the pre-condition for INEC to continue with the recall exercise.

But Melaye appealed against Justice Dimgba’s ruling.

Justice Tunde Awotoye of the appellate court on Friday upheld Justice Dimgba’s judgemenet, adding the court should not have even entertained Melaye’s application since it didn’t disclose any action against INEC.

The justice added that INEC’s power to conduct a recall derives from the Constitution, and nobody, including the court, can take it away.

INEC will therefor continue the recall stalled by Melaye’s appeal about nine months.

The Kogi senator has been having a tumultuous time since 2016, and he likes to blame his political adversaries, including his state Gov. Bello Yahaya for the travails.