Recall Process: Melaye Begs Supreme Court To Stop INEC
Determined to save his seat, Senator Dino Melaye, who represents Kogi West Senatorial District, Thursday, prayed the Supreme Court to stop Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, from going ahead with the process for his recall.
The embattled lawmaker, through his lead counsel, Chief Mike Ozekhome, SAN, raised seven grounds of appeal he urged the apex court to consider and abort plans to recall him from the Senate.
He applied for an order of perpetual injunction restraining INEC, whether by itself, staff, employees, agents, servants and or privies, howsoever, called, from commencing or further continuing with the process of acting on the purported petition presented to it by his constituents.
Melaye further filed a motion for an order staying the execution of the March 16 judgement of the Court of Appeal in Abuja that gave INEC the nod to resume process for his recall.
He begged the court to order parties to maintain the status quo that existed before the judgement was delivered in the appeal marked CA/A/299/M/2018, pending the hearing and final determination of the appeal he lodged before the Supreme Court.
According to him, “unless the execution of the judgement is stayed and/or suspended, the appellant’s/applicant’s appeal already filed would be defeated, rendered nugatory and a situation of complete helplessness foisted on the Supreme Court.”
It will be recalled that INEC had sequel to the verdict of the appellate court, published timetable for Melaye’s recall which is scheduled to commence on April 27.
However, the embattled lawmaker, in his appeal, insisted that “irreparable damage” would be done to him if INEC goes ahead to recall him from the Senate while his appeal is pending before the apex court.
“In the circumstance, the justice of this case requires that the judgement of this court be stayed/suspended and time within which the respondents can conduct the recall process paused, as the respondents can comfortably continue with the process if eventually the appellant/applicant’s appeal at the Supreme Court fails,” he argued.
Specifically, he is praying the apex court set aside the Court of Appeal judgment and to declare the petition purportedly presented to INEC for his recall, as illegal, unlawful, wrongful, unconstitutional, invalid, null, void and of no effect whatsoever.
He also prayed the Supreme Court to declare the recall process INEC initiated against him as illegal and unconstitutional, same having been commenced and conducted on the basis of an invalid petition.
He equally urged the apex court to “declare that the 90 days period as provided for in section 69(b) of the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, 1999, as altered, having elapsed by effluxion of time on the 23rd of September, 2017, the 1st Respondent can no longer validly proceed on the basis of the purported petition for the recall of the Appellant presented to it on the 23rd of June, 2017”. Melaye maintained that Justices of the Court of Appeal erred in law and occasioned a miscarriage of justice against him.
