In 2018, an attempt to recall Dino Melaye, then senator representing Kogi West, failed as only five per cent of the electorate turned out for the verification exercise.

There are plans underway to recall Senator Natasha Akpoti-Uduaghan from representing Kogi Central Senatorial District. On Friday, a Federal High Court in Lokoja approved the recall process initiated by constituents of the Senatorial District against Akpoti-Uduaghan.

The senator is currently on a six-month suspension, which came days after she accused Senate President Godswill Akpabio of sexual harassment.

On Friday, a Federal High Court in Lokoja, Kogi, ruled that the process was backed by the constitution and was within the civic rights of the electorates.

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FIJ understands that the electorates of a constituency can submit a recall petition. According to information obtained on the website of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), it is a petition submitted for the withdrawal of an elected representative from a legislative house.

An elected legislator in the National Assembly, State House of Assembly and a councillor in an Area Council of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) can be recalled.

“Sections 69 and 110 of the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria and section 116 of the Electoral Act 2010 (as amended) empower INEC to conduct Recall proceedings against a member of the National Assembly, State House of Assembly, or the Area Council of the FCT, upon the receipt of a valid petition alleging a loss of confidence in the member, by more than 50% of voters registered to vote in that member’s constituency,” reads part of the information on INEC’s website.

To recall a legislator, the electorates are to submit a petition to the INEC Chairman, and the petition must be signed by more than 50 per cent of the registered voters in that lawmaker’s constituency.

After that, verification and referendum would be conducted. Verification is conducted at polling units in the concerned constituency. Only the signatories to the petition can partake in this aspect of the recall process.

On the other hand, all the registered voters in the constituency participate in a referendum. For this to be done, all the voters will vote ‘Yes’ or ‘No’ to recall the legislator.

A referendum can be considered successful when the ‘Yes’ vote exceeds 50 per cent of the registered voters in the constituency. Also, it is conducted in the constituency of the affected legislator.

A recall process must be concluded within 90 days starting from the date the petition was submitted.

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When a legislator is recalled, INEC states, “A Certificate of Recall is issued to the presiding officer of the affected legislative house. Subsequently, a bye-election is conducted to fill the vacancy”.

On whether a recalled lawmaker can re-contest, the election umpire said no law prevents such a person from contesting in the future.

It Failed in 2018

No member of the National Assembly has been successfully recalled.

While announcing the outcome of the exercise in Melaye’s case in April 2018, INEC said, “[…]the verified signatures is 5.34% of the total number of registered voters in the constituency and has therefore not satisfied a requirement of the law for a referendum.”

Of the 189,870 signatories, only 18,742 were verified in the exercise.