The Herculean 10 Steps To Recall Dino Melaye

Section 69 of the 1999 Constitution provides 10 steps on how a member of the Senate or House of Reps can be recalled.
The steps are:

1 More than half of the registered voters in the Senator’s senatorial district write, sign and send a petition to the Chairman of the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC alleging their loss of confidence in the senatorial.

FACT: At present, there is no petition before the INEC regarding Melaye’s recall.

2 The petition must be signed, and arranged according to polling units, wards, Local Government Areas, and constituency.

FACT: It will take a while and INEC staff to get this right.

3 INEC notifies the Senator sought to be recalled, stating that it has received a petition for his or her recall, if the petition is valid.

FACT: Until Dino gets the petition, nothing much can proceed. He can make it difficult for such a notice to reach him.

4 INEC issues a public notice or announcement stating the date, time and location of the verification of signatures to the petition.

FACT: For now, it is all motion no movement until 1 – 4 are addressed.

5. INEC verifies the signatures to the petition at the designation. The signatories must be individuals who appear on the voters’ register.

FACT: Verifying the signatures of nearly 200, 000 on the petition will be no mean feat for the INEC.

6 INEC conducts a referendum if more than one half (50% + 1) of the signatories are verified.

FACT: Until 5 above happens, which is a tall order, 6 remains in limbo.

7 INEC writes to the petitioners stating that the minimum requirements for a referendum were not met, if the number verified is less than one half of the registered voters in that constituency. The petition will therefore be dismissed.

FACT: The possibility of 7 lies in the actualization of 6.

8 INEC conducts a referendum within 90 days of receipt of the petition if the minimum requirements for a referendum are met. The referendum will be a simple yes or no vote on whether the Senator should be recalled, and will be decided by simple majority of the votes of the persons registered to vote in that Senator’s constituency.

FACT: That means that if, ever, there is going to be a recall of Melaye, it will be sometime in 2018, and by then politics will be in full swing ahead of 2019.

9 If majority of the voters in the constituency vote ‘yes’ the Chairman of the INEC will send a Certificate of Recall to the Senate President to effect the recall.

FACT: Achieving 9 rests on eight prior steps.

10 The Senate President will show affected senator the way out of the Senate. 

FACT: With the existing relationship between Senate President Bukola Saraki and Melaye, this will mean the proverbial Carmel passing through the Eye of the needle.