Senator Dino Melaye panics, hires Mike Ozekhome to stop his recall in court realising INEC means business
Senator Dino Melaye of Kogi West Senatorial district has filed a lawsuit at the Federal High Court Abuja seeking a court injunction to halt his recall from the Senate.
According to a media report, a panic-stricken Melaye had been shopping for a judge in the last 48 hours that could grant an injunction to halt the process after word reached him that the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) was meeting to decide on an appropriate response to the submission of more 188,000 signatures to their headquarters on Wednesday from his constituents who wanted him recalled from the Nigerian Senate.
On Thursday INEC issued a statement notifying the public that it will be verifying the signatures on July 3rd 2017. The commission also wrote to Melaye notifying him of the official commencement of the recall exercise.
Mr. Melaye’s lawyers on Friday filed a 33-page legal argument seeking to obtain injunctive reliefs from the court. The application was accompanied by an affidavit of urgency filed by a staff of Mr. Ozekhome’s law firm.
Answering questions from journalists on Friday, a senior INEC official made it clear that there was nothing stopping his commission from effecting the recall exercise provided the process by the constituents meet the guidelines of INEC on specifics.
