Senate President Bukola Saraki and his deputy, Ike Ekweremadu, yesterday attacked the Kogi State government for backing the moves to recall Senator Dino Melaye.
They were reacting to the advertorial placed in newspapers by Kogi State Attorney General and Justice Commissioner Ibrahim Sanni Mohammed.
Mohammed was responding to Ekweremadu’s submission last week that Melaye’s recall process was an exercise in futility and made in bad faith.
The Attorney General said among others in the advertorial that: “I must put on record that contrary to the legal opinion of Senator Ekweremadu on the role of the Senate in the recall process, the Senate has no role whatsoever in the recall exercise than to receive the Certificate under the hand of the Chairman of INEC stating that the provisions 69 of the Constitution have been complied with: See Sections 68(h) and 69 of the 1999 Constitution (as amended).”
Muhammed added: “Indeed by the provisions of the INEC regulations for the recall of a legislator, a legislator stands recalled upon INEC’s confirmation of a majority vote in favour of the recall.”
But Ekweremadu, who came under Order 43 (personal explanation) of the Senate standing rule, insisted that the Muhammed was ill-informed and should have advised those behind the recall process how near impossible it is to recall a member of the National Assembly.
He noted that contrary to the position of the Kogi chief law officer, the Senate has a major role to play in the recall of a senator and in fact final say in the recall process.
“I urge them to apply their time to more useful venture in view of the strenuous nature of the recall process and I said the AG may not have advised them properly.
“I understand that every page (of the advert) costs about 700,000 and five other papers carried the advert and we are talking of about N12 million of Kogi money sent.
”Indeed by the provisions of the INEC regulation for the recall of a legislator, a legislator stands recalled upon INEC’s confirmation of a majority vote in favour of the recall.
“He is saying that the Senate has no role. I stand by what I said the other day and I would like to take him to Section 68(1H) and (2) show the role of the Senate, which he says has no role.
“Section 68(1H) reads: ‘The President of the Senate or, as the case may be, the Speaker of the House of Representatives receives a certificate under the hand of the Chairman of the Independent National Electoral Commission stating that the provisions of section 69 of this Constitution have been complied with in respect of the recall of that member’.
“That was the section the Attorney General was referring to but he mischievously refused to state the provisions of section 2 or probably out of Ignorance, he did not put Section 68(2) which states: ‘The President of the Senate or the Speaker of the House of Representatives, as the case may be, shall give effect to the provisions of subsection (1) of this section, so however that the President of the Senate or the Speaker of the House of Representatives or a member shall first present evidence satisfactory to the House concerned that any of the provisions of that subsection has become applicable in respect of that member.”
”So, I call on the Kogi House of Assembly to institute an inquiry on who paid for this and find a way of getting the money back to pay the salaries of the people of Kogi State
“Kogi should constitute an enquiry to know who paid the money.”
The Senate President, who did not allow any debate on the issue, concurred with Ekweremadu.
