Dino Melaye Court fixes September 11 for judgment on Kogi Senator's recall

The Federal High Court, Abuja, has fixed Sept. 11 to deliver judgment in the suit filed by Sen. Dino Melaye (APC- Kogi), challenging his planned recall by some voters in his constituency.
Justice Nnamdi Dimgba, fixed the September date after listening to arguments from all parties involved in the suit.
The
Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) had commenced the
process to recall Melaye, but the senator went to court, seeking
stoppage of the process.
One of the
grounds upon which Melaye, who represents Kogi West in the Senate
challenged his recall, was that the signatures of some of the voters in
the petition for his recall were fictitious.
Melaye who argued his case through his counsel, Mr Nkem Okoro, said that majority of the signatures on the petition were dead people.
He
added that death certificates were attached to the processes he filed
as exhibits to ascertain the veracity of his claim that some of the
signatories were deceased.
He further alleged that he was denied fair hearing by both his constituents and INEC.
Okoro said,
“The petitioners ought to have informed Melaye of the facts and
circumstances upon which the alleged loss of confidence was based prior
to submission of the petition to INEC.
“INEC
upon receipt of the said petition only served Melaye a mere notice that
it had received a petition for his recall. So we are challenging INEC’s
action.
“They should have shown
a copy of the petition to Melaye and failure to do so amounts to denial
of fair hearing and a violation of the laws of natural justice.”
Okoro
also said his client was challenging the validity of the said petition
on the grounds that the petition was based on political animosity,
malice and bad faith.
He urged the court to grant the prayers of his motion and stop INEC from going ahead with the planned recall.
Counsel to the other plaintiffs in the matter said they aligned themselves with the arguments of Okoro.
Counsel to INEC, Mr Anthony Adeniyi,
on his part, said that Melaye had failed to show the court the
particular signatories on the petition to which the death certificates
attached as exhibit belonged.
“If he
attached death certificates, he should tell the court that this
certificate for example, belongs to signature number 24 on the petition,
but he failed to do that.”
Justice Dimgba adjourned the matter until Sept. 11 for judgment.
The
judge also fixed Sept.11to deliver judgment in a suit filed by the All
Progressives Congress (APC), also seeking to stop Melaye’s recall.
The judge consolidated the two suits to avoid having conflicting judgments since the subject of both suits were similar.
Dino Melaye Court fixes September 11 for judgment on Kogi Senator's recall
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