RECALL PROCESS: Melaye Challenges Judgement At Court Of Appeal

Melaye

Senator Dino Melaye (APC-Kogi West) has filed an appeal against the court judgement that granted the continuation of his recall exercise.

This comes two days after Justice Nnamdi Dimgba of the Federal High Court in Abuja ordered the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) to continue with the process of recalling the lawmaker.

Hours after the ruling, Melaye described the judgement as an alleged plan by Governor Yahaya Bello of Kogi state and INEC to force him out of the Senate.

The appeal was filed on behalf of Melaye by his lawyer, Mike Ozekhome (SAN), on Wednesday at the Federal High Court, Abuja.

A copy of the document revealed that the appeal with suit number, "FHC/ABJ/ CS/567/2017”was filed on eight grounds of“error in law.

Those listed as respondents in the suit include INEC, one Olowo Cornelius, and six others.‘Erred in law’

According to the document, one of the grounds of appeal is that Justice Dimgba“erred in law” when he validated the petition presented to the electoral body for the lawmaker’s recall.

“The learned trial judge erred in law when he held that the petition presented to INEC the first respondent before the court for the recall of the plaintiff (Melaye) was valid, even when the petition exhibited by INEC was not signed by more than half of the registered voters in the plaintiff’s constituency, as required by Section 69 of the 1999 Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, al altered,” the document said.

In his reliefs, the lawmaker asked the court to set aside the judgment delivered by Justice Dimgba.

He also prayed the court to declare the petition purportedly presented to INEC for his recall as “illegal, unlawful, wrongful, unconstitutional, invalid, null, void and of no effect whatsoever”, among other reliefs.