(INEC).
The signed
documents, alongside other documents were submitted at INEC’s headquarters in
Abuja, yesterday.
This was
against the backdrop of collation of signatures required for Melaye’s recall
from the Senate, which was concluded last week. The constituents stormed the
headquarters of the electoral commission board with a bag each, from each of
the seven local government areas which make up the senatorial district.
Olowo
Cornelius, who led the delegation of the LGAs comprising Ijumu; Kabba/Bunu;
Lokoja; Kogi Local Government Yagba West; Yagba East and Mopa/Moro, however,
met with the commission’s chairman, Prof. Mahmood Yakubu, behind closed doors.
Addressing
newsmen after the meeting, Cornelius said signatures required for a recall was
50.1 per cent but they gathered 52.3 per cent.
He further
explained that polling centres were set up where the electorate came with
voters cards to cast their ballots, and added that it took one week to collate
the results from the polls.
“We are not
satisfied with his representation in the Senate. The people know who is
representing them well.
“Senate is a
place for responsible people, not for rancour and tyranny. People of Kogi West
have had to bear with him for two years.
“Two years
is enough to assess a senator. We are at a stage of a journey-of-no-return,” he
said.
Exonerating
Governor Yahaya Bello from the recall process, Cornelius declared that the
decision was that of the constituents.
“The
governor is not from Kogi West; he has no role in the matter. He is from
another constituency and he has his own senator. I know people say the enemy of
my enemy is my friend but, in this case, what we are seeing is the
determination of the people.”
On Monday,
Pius Kolawole, special adviser on political affairs to Governor Bello,
announced that 188,588 voters, representing 52.3 percent of the total number of
registered voters in Kogi west senatorial district, approved the recall of
Melaye from the Senate.
Announcing
the result of the collation, the Returning Officer, Mr. Adamu Yusuf had also
said that 188, 588 out of the 360,098 in the senatorial district endorsed
Melaye’s recall. While giving the breakdown of the result per the seven local
governments in the district, Yusuf had said 18, 374 of the total number of
35,331 registered voters in Yagba East approved the recall. Others are 9, 186,
out of 18,356 voters in Mopa-Moro local government, 24, 703 out of 46, 810
voters in Yagba West, 63,736 out of 116,296 in Lokoja Local Government and
24,283 out of 46,819 in Ijumu Local Government. He had also added that in
Kabba/Bunu Local Government, 28,277 out of 60, 520 voters endorsed the recall,
while 24,703 out of 46,810 voters in Kogi Local Government voted for the move
to recall Melaye.
The
Electoral Act says one-half of the number of registered voters in a
constituency is required for the recall of a lawmaker.
There are
360,098 registered voters in Kogi West and 188,588 represents a little more
than one-half required for a lawmaker’s recall.
Regardless,
the lawmaker has described the attempt to recall him as “a comedy of errors”
which will fail.
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