Plot to recall Melaye thickens, as constituents submit petition to INEC

.Accuse Senator of ineffective representation
.Back petition with documents in 7 Ghana-Must-Go bags

The plot to recall the Senator representing Kogi West district of Kogi State in the National Assembly, Senator Dino Melaye, was taken to the next level on Wednesday as representatives of the seven local government areas making up the district stormed the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) headquarters in Abuja to submit their petition for his (Melaye’s) recall.

The petition for the recall of Melaye was submitted at the office of the National Chairman of INEC, Prof. Mahmood Yakubu, at about 12.20pm on Wednesday.

Attached to the petition were the outcome of the recent referendum conducted on the matter by the constituents which came in seven ‘Ghana-Must-Go’ bags from the seven local government areas in the senatorial district.

The local government areas are Ijumu, Kabba/Bunnu, Mopa Muro, Yagba West, Yagba East, Lokoja and Kogi (Koton Karfi).

The outcome of the referendum showed that in Ijumu Local Government Area, out of the 46, 819 voters registered by INEC, 24,284 representing 51.8 percent voted in favour of Melaye’s recall, while in Kabba/Bunnu where 60, 522 voters were registered, 28, 277 representing 46 percent showed support for the recall of the Senator.

In Mopa/Muro Local Government Area, where there were 18, 356 registered voters, 9, 186 of the voters representing 50.4 percent voted in favour of the recall, while in Yagba West, which has 35,966 registered voters, 20,029 representing 55.7 percent expressed support for the recall.

Similarly, in Lokoja Local Government Area, which has 116,296 registered voters, 63,736 voters representing 54 percent voted in favour of the recall, while in Kogi (Koton Karfi) Local Government Area, which has 46,810 registered voters, 24,703 or 52.77 percent of them backed the recall process.

In Yagba East Local Government Area, which has 35,331 registered voters, 18,374 or 52 percent voted for the recall of Senator Melaye.

In all, 52.3 percent of the total registered voters in the seven local government areas making up Kogi West senatorial district were in support of the recall of the Senator.

The leader of the Kogi East senatorial district’s delegation to the INEC, Chief Cornelius Olowo, while answering questions from journalists after submitting the recall petition to INEC, explained that the people of the district have not felt the impact of Melaye since over two years that he was elected into office.

According to Chief Olowo, the embattled Senator Melaye has, in the last two years, refused to establish a constituency office in any part of the senatorial district as well as failed to embark on a constituency project in the area.

Olowo said: “There has been a major gap between Dino Melaye and his constituents in Kogi West district, who elected him into the Senate over two years ago. Other representatives are also from our area, why are we not calling for their removal?

“This is because they are performing well. But Kogi West people have lost confidence in Dino Melaye. We have lost hope in him. He has not been providing us with the necessary representation”.

Those who came to submit the petition for the recall of Melaye were escorted to Abuja by two fully armed mobile policemen in an unmarked white bus that conveyed them to the INEC headquarters.

When asked why the recall process was coming at a time Senator Melaye was having issues with the Governor of the state, Yahaya Bello, Chief Olowo said that it was just a coincidence, pointing out that after all, the Governor is not from the same Senatorial district with Melaye and as such he has no say in what happens in the Senator’s district.