The Court of Appeal, sitting in Abuja, Friday, gave the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), the nod to begin the process of recalling Senator Dino Melaye, representing Kogi West.
The Appeal Court in throwing out Melaye’s appeal, said it lacked merit. in a unanimous decision delivered by Justice T.O. Awotoye, the Judges said the appeal disclosed no cause of action.
Justice Nnamdi Dimgba of a Federal High Court, Abuja, had on September 11, 2017 dismissed a suit filed by Melaye seeking to stop INEC from initiating his recall from the National Assembly.
Justice Dimgba held that Melaye’s complaints were ‘hasty, premature and presumptuous” and therefore ordered the INEC to go ahead with its planned verification exercise.
Justice Dimgba had permitted INEC to proceed with the exercise of verifying the signatures of the 188,588 registered voters, who were said to have signed in support of the recall process.
The 188,588 voters were said to have constituted 52.3 per cent of the 360,098 total registered voters in the Kogi West Senatorial District.
Consequently, the trial Judge held that the only option available for Melaye, is for him to go through the verification process to be conducted by INEC.
Not satisfied by the judgment, Melaye headed to the appellate court and questioned the order made by Justice Dimgba. But in a judgement on Friday, the Court of Appeal dismissed all the
grounds of appeal filed by Melaye.
Justice Awotoye in the judgment resolved all the issues contained in favour of INEC and upheld the decision of the Federal High Court, which held that Melaye’s suit was “hasty, premature and presumptuous”.
The court also dismissed the appellant’s claim that he was denied fair hearing by the electoral umpire before commencing the recall process, noting that INEC is neither a tribunal nor a court of law.
Justice Atowoye further held that there is no limitation to the counting of the 90 days for the recall process, as it can be extended, adding that INEC’s powers is statutory and not even the court can take away the powers of INEC to conduct a referendum.
“The powers of the Independent National Electoral Commission is a statutory one given by the constitution and not even the court can take away the powers of INEC to conduct a referendum.
“Such statutory bodies like the INEC should be allowed to exercise their statutory powers without interference by the court.
“The appellant cannot claim that his right of fair hearing was infringed upon. His right to fair hearing has not been violated since INEC as a statutory body is not a tribunal neither is it a court of law.
“The appellant has not disclose any case of action and the suit ought to have been struck out by the trial court for not disclosing any cause of action.
“I agree with the decision of the trial court. Ordinary, it ought to have struck out the suit for non disclosure of cause of action. This is because where there is no cause of action, the court has no jurisdiction to hear the suit.
“Having resolved all the issues in the appeal against the appellant, I hereby struck out the suit and dismiss the appeal”, Justice Awotoye held.
The electoral body had sent a letter notifying the lawmaker of a petition for his recall, in accordance with its guidelines for the recall of members of the National Assembly.
To carry out the verification of the petitioners, INEC had said it would on July 3, 2017, issue a public notice stating the day(s), time, location and other details for the verification.
Senator Melaye, however, approached the court asking the court to declare the petition presented to INEC illegal, unlawful and unconstitutional.
In the suit, he sought a declaration that the recall process “is tainted with bad faith, political malice and personal vendetta”, alleging that the petition was signed by “fictitious and none existing persons” in his senatorial district.
He also asked the court to determine whether, by the provisions of Sections 68 and 69 of the 1999 Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, he can be vividly recalled when the petition was allegedly signed by persons who do not come from his senatorial constituency.
Felix Omohomhion, Abuja
