Yetunde Verissimo, The Sight News
LAGOS: A Civil Society Organisation, Enough is Enough (EiE) has charged Nigerians to stop waiting for election process and engage their representatives while in office to ensure that they work to the common interest of the people or ask for a recall.
Speaking in Lagos at the unveiling of the Citizens Guide to the Recall Process, on Thursday, the Executive Director, Enough is Enough Nigeria(EIE), Yemi Adamolekun, said that EIE’s drive is towards educating the public on the need and process for the recall of their representatives.
According to Adamolekun, ‘ Recall’ is the constitutional power of citizens to remove members of the legislature who do not have the best interest of their constituents before the expiration of their term.
She added that although the process is tedious, due to the high threshold set by the constitution, at least 50 per cent of members of the constituents should sign a petition of Recall, adding that it is short enough to embark on, which is 90 days after the verification of the petition.
She further emphasized that the recall should be the final process of calling a representative to order.
“Citizens should learn to engage their representatives while in office by writing letters to request dialogues, town hall meetings, or one-on-one interaction while in office and not wait for four years till the next election to vote against such erring representative” she said.
Although several recall processes have been embarked upon, none has been successful since the inception of democracy in 1999.
The EIE Nigeria is presently tracking the Recall process of senator Dino Melaye, Kogi west; Senator Sulaiman Hunkuyi, Kaduna north; Senator Sunni Ogbuoji, Ebonyi South House of representatives; Bolarinwa Bamidele, Idanre/Ifedore FC, and Abubakar Kuki, Kano state assembly.
It should be noted that there are five steps to recalling a state or federal legislator, namely; submitting a petition alleging a loss of confidence in the elected member to the Independent Electoral body, INEC signed by more than half of the registered voters within the constituency; Verification of signatures; Referendum by INEC; Affirmation of votes and finally the By-election to replace the recalled legislator.
