The Kogi state Independent National Electoral Commission on Wednesday announced dates for the commencement of the recall process of the embattled Senator representing Kogi West , Dino Melaye.
The Resident Electoral Commissioner in the state , Prof . James Apam , said following the appeal court ruling that INEC can commence the recall process , the commission has fixed the last Saturday of April as the verification date .
INEC also fixed first Saturday in the month of May as the day that a referendum would be conducted in line with the electoral laws .
Apam spoke at a stakeholders ’ forum on Wednesday in Lokoja.
He said, “On this day , the Commission will endeavour to invite all those who have signed the recall register to come forward and identify their signature. ”
According to him , if this process is successful, the Commission will proceed to the next stage where a referendum of all registered voters would be conducted.
“Here, voters will be asked to vote either ‘ yes ’ or ‘ no ’ to the question of whether they want Senator Dino Melaye recalled .
“If the answer meets the constitutional requirements of 51 percent ‘ yes , ’ the process moves to the next stage ; but if it fails, the process stops, ” Apam explained.
Recall that the appeal court had , last week , thrown out Senator Dino Melaye’ s suit challenging the move to recall him .
Recall also that the embattled Senator has vowed to proceed to the Supreme Court in the bid to stop INEC from proceeding with the process .
Apam said that as a law- abiding entity , INEC will not do anything outside the dictates of the law , noting , “that is why we have to wait till after the judgement before going ahead with the process .”
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Politics