‘He’s relocated abroad’ — constituents move to recall Ondo rep

THE CABLE

Constituents of Ondo east/Ondo west federal constituency have commenced mobilisation for the recall of Abiola Makinde, a member of the house of representatives.

In a statement on Monday, Ekimogun Roundtable, a socio-economic group of Ondo indigenes, alleged that the All Progressives Congress (APC) lawmaker has abandoned his legislative duties and relocated abroad.

The group claimed that the constituency has been without any representation for months because of the poor performance of the lawmaker.

Ekimogun Roundtable said “over 30 legal practitioners across the country” have shown interest in providing free legal services to challenge the action of the legislator.

“The lawmaker abdicated his legislative duties for months during the legislative session and relocated abroad with his national assembly constituency office under lock and key, thereby rendering the entire constituency without representation for the period under review,” the statement issued by Christiana Ayodele, the group’s acting secretary, reads.

The constituents said there is a “massive disparity in constituency fund/projects allotment to the constituency on paper and actual physical projects execution which further put question marks on the integrity of those around the community’s constituency projects procurement process at the green chamber of the National Assembly”.

“The Ondo East/West Federal Constituency has never had it this bad in terms of legislative performance since the advent of democracy such that critical issues of great national importance like the National Budget, the National Anthem Act, among others will be discussed at the hallowed chamber without the input of the good people of the constituency,” the group said.

The Ekimogun Roundtable said they have written to the national assembly requesting the plenary attendance of the lawmaker.

THE PROCESS OF RECALL

Recalling a lawmaker is complex and requires mass mobilisation of voters.

Section 69 of the 1999 constitution stipulates that a member of the senate or house of representatives may be recalled if:

(A) There is a petition presented to the chairman of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) and 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

(B) The petition is subjected to a referendum conducted by the electoral umpire within 90 days of the date of receipt of the petition.

(C) The petition must be approved by a simple majority of the votes of the persons registered to vote in that member’s constituency.

The Electoral Act also lists other processes to be followed to recall a lawmaker.

No lawmaker has been successfully recalled since Nigeria returned to democracy in 1999.

THIS STORY FIRST APPEARED IN THE CABLE