With news of Senator Dino Melaye’s possible recall from the senate gradually gaining momentum, LIB digs deep to find
out the true process of recalling a senator in Nigeria as stipulated by Section 69 of the 1999 Constitution.
Already, out of 360,098 of the total registered voters of the seven western senatorial districts in Kogi State comprising
Yagba, Mopa Muro, Kabba Bunu, Yagba East, Koton Karfe, Lokoja and Ijumu, 188, 588,
signed the recall register constituting 52.3% of the voters in senatorial district.
According to Section 69 of the 1999 Constitution, below are the 10 stets to follow.
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
2 The petition must be signed, and arranged according to polling units, wards, Local Government Areas, and constituency.
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
4 INEC issues a public notice or
announcement stating the date, time and location of the verification of signatures to
the petition.
5 INEC verifies the signatures to the petition at the designation. The signatories must be
individuals who appear on the voters’ register.
6 INEC conducts a referendum if more than one half (50% + 1) of the signatories are verified
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.
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.
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.
10 The Senate President will show affected senator the way out of the Senate.
