The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) has asked the Federal
\nHigh Court in Abuja to set aside the restraining order which put the
\nrecall of the senator representing Kogi West in the Senate, Dino Melaye,
\non hold.
\nThe restraining order was issued on July 6 by Justice John Tsoho who
\nsubsequently adjourned the matter till September 29.<\/p>\n
In a motion on notice brought before Justice Nnamdi Dimgba on Thursday,
\nINEC, however, prayed the court to set aside the order for maintenance of
\nstatus quo in the case.<\/p>\n
In the motion filed by one Mr Sulayman Ibrahim, the electoral body claimed
\nthat the order for the status quo has hindered it from proceeding with the
\nrecall process of Senator Melaye.<\/p>\n
INEC, in a\u00a016-paragraph-affidavit in support of the motion on notice,
\nclaimed that the order made by Justice Tsoho was against the time bound
\nduty of the Commission as enshrined under Section 69 of the 1999
\nConstitution.<\/p>\n
The electoral body averred that since the ex-parte order was served on it
\non July 10, it has hindered it from taking any further action in respect
\nof the recall petition.<\/p>\n
It specifically claimed that it has 90 days, starting from June 21, to
\nconduct a referendum in line with the approved timetable and schedule of
\nactivities.<\/p>\n
INEC further claimed that the recall process was time bound and that the
\n90-day period for the exercise would lapse on September 18.<\/p>\n
It claimed that Senator Melaye misrepresented and suppressed material
\nfacts, stating that this misled the judge to grant the order of interim
\ninjunction.<\/p>\n
In another motion, the electoral umpire asked the court for an order for
\naccelerated hearing of substantive suit, and that all order processes
\nrelating to the recall petition should be heard during the court vacation.
\nJustice Dimgba adjourned the hearing of the two motions till July 27 to
\nenable Senator Melaye\u2019s lawyers to respond to the suits.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) has asked the Federal High Court in Abuja to set aside the restraining order which put the recall of the senator representing Kogi West…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":58234,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_lmt_disableupdate":"","_lmt_disable":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-58684","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news"],"yoast_head":"\n