Melaye And The Recall Process

Nigeria is a very peculiar nation in all respects. Over time, experience has shown that the fact that a well-designed and tested policy, programme or model ever worked well in the best democracies of the world, is not an assurance that it would function or see the light of the day in our dear country. Nigeria is certainly a unique country of its own kind.
The recall process is put in place, as a control measure, to check and curtail  the excesses of lawmakers. While the instrumentality of recall has been successfully used to tame deviant legislators and replace bad parliamentarians in other countries, the effect of such an important provision under our democratic architecture, from what we have seen over the years, is no more than a mere weapon of political intimidation, negotiation and bargaining.
It is on this strength that recent threats to recall Senator  Dino Melaye, representing Kogi West in the Senate could be taken with a pinch of salt. The main reasons why this may be so are still the same problems why Nigeria has retrogressively remained a peculiar nation; inconsistency on the part of key political actors, bureaucratic bottlenecks, party indiscipline, corruption, impunity and weak institutions.
Sections 69 and 110 of the 1999 Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria (as amended) provide for the manner in which recall may be carried out in both federal and state legislature.
Specifically, the constitution provides that a member of the Senate or of the House of Representatives may be recalled if the following conditions were fulfilled. Firstly, if there is presented to the chairman of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), a petition in that behalf, signed by more than one-half of the persons registered to vote in that member’s constituency alleging their loss of confidence in that member; and whose signatures are duly verified by the INEC.
Secondly, if the petition is thereafter, in a referendum conducted by INEC within 90 days of the date of receipt of the petition, and approved by a simple majority of the votes of the persons registered to vote in that member’s constituency. The petition would have been duly signed and arranged according to polling units, wards, local government areas and constituency. The chairman of the INEC is obliged to send a Certificate of Recall to the President of the Senate to effect the recall when the process is eventually completed.
The constitutional provisions, as stated above, appear to have contributed to making the recall process a mere academic exercise rather than practical. For instance, what constitutes loss of confidence? The constitution is silent on this; which for me is a lacuna that would require constitutional amendment.
This cumbersome modus operandi on how to go about the recall, has been largely responsible for why there seems not to be any successful prosecution of recall process in the country.
Permit me to state that this discourse is neither in support nor against the recall of Melaye. It is simply a review and appraisal of the existing legislative bureaucracy with reference to law making, discipline and good governance, especially now that many Nigerians are skeptical and inundated with wrong perception about the legislative activities of many parliamentarians.
Recall process has been very effective in other climes. For instance, in the United States of America, Wisconsin Senators, Randy Hopper and Dan Kapanke were recalled; Arizona Senate President, Russell Pearce was also recalled, while Michigan State representative, Paul Scott was recalled; just as Wisconsin State Senator, Van Wanggaard and Colorado Senate President, John  Morse and Senator Angela Giron were successfully recalled.
Nobody should be allowed to be above the law. This should be the standard practice under civil rule, Nigeria inclusive.
No wonder that Melaye has described the process of his recall as a ‘joke’ because of the inability of the process to be used to discipline any lawmaker in Nigeria.
Kupoluyi is of the Federal University of Agriculture, Abeokuta.

Adewale Kupoluyi