It was all drama at the National Assembly yesterday as Senator Dino Melaye and officials of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) engaged in hide-and-seek game over the Kogi West lawmaker’s recall.
The INEC officials had arrived at the National Assembly complex as early as 11am with four ‘Ghana Must Go’ bags containing recall petitions and a heap of tied documents signed by constituents in Melaye’s Kogi West.
The INEC officials had split into two with one group waiting at the door of the senator’s office. The other group was monitoring the chambers, where Melaye kept himself busy with legislative duties.
Apparently aware that some of the INEC officials were waiting for him in the frontage of his locked office at the Senate Wing of the complex, the lawmaker refused to go to his office after plenary.
Melaye, who participated actively in the day’s proceedings, left the National Assembly complex without getting to his office as is the tradition with every lawmaker.
Flustered by the senator’s antics, the electoral officials dumped the documents on the recall at the entrance of his office in the National Assembly.
The documents were dumped around 11:00am.
The INEC officials left the National Assembly complex at about 1.14pm disappointed.
One after the other, they filed into a waiting Toyota Hiace bus that brought them.
The controversial senator has been in a running battle with the INEC over plans by his constituents to recall him for alleged poor representation.
He decided to buy time by approaching the courts to stop the process and succeeded in pushing the process for over the 90-day timeframe prescribed by the constitution.
Melaye had, at a press briefing on Monday, washed his hands off the recall process, saying that the 90-day span prescribed by the Constitution had elapsed.
However, Justice Nnamdi Dimgba in a later ruling, had ordered the INEC to start the process afresh by serving the relevant documents on the senator.
At the last court appearance, INEC’s lawyers had sought to serve the senator through substituted service, but Justice Dimgba directed them to make another attempt at serving Melaye and that they should report back to court should the attempt fail.
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