7 Recall: Court of Appeal dismisses Melaye’s appeal
Experts urge FG to key into China’s ‘Belt and Road’ initiative
The Court of Appeal in Abuja yesterday dismissed the appeal by Senator Dino Melaye seeking to stop the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) from beginning his recall process.
The court described Melaye’s appeal as lacking in merit, inchoate and disclosed no cause of action.
A Federal High Court in Abuja presided over by Justice Nnamdi Dimgba had in September 2017 given INEC the nod to begin Melaye’s recall process, which made him to appeal the decision. Foreign policy experts have urged the federal government to deepen its participation in China’s ‘Belt and Road’ initiative as a new paradigm for international cooperation and development.
The initiative was launched in 2013 by the Chinese President, Xi Jinping, to build infrastructure networks overland and maritime to connect Asia, Europe and Africa.
It aims to create the world’s largest platform for promoting policy coordination, facilities connectivity, unimpeded trade, financial integration and people-to-people bond.
The experts, at a round table dialogue in Abuja yesterday, said Nigeria should maximise China’s benevolence for Africa’s development and seek opportunities to strengthen cooperation with the framework of Belt and Road mechanism.
A lecturer at the University of Abuja, Dr. Sheriff Ghah Ibrahim, said though Nigeria needs to exploit China’s close ties with Africa, it must not completely rely on the Chinese initiative, but rise and help its own development and contribute its own quota to the initiative.
The Deputy Chinese Ambassador to Nigeria, Mr. Lin Jing, said the initiative would provide new opportunities to synergize China-Africa development strategies. Five persons were confirmed dead while two others were injured late Thursday when a truck rammed into a car park along Sagamu - Ogijo road in Ogun State.
A Toyota Camry Car marked AAA 889 ER was hit by the truck with registration number KNA 346 XA.
Witnesses said the driver of the truck had trouble controlling the vehicle when the brake failed and it rammed into the car parked by the road. Five occupants of the car were crushed to death on the spot while the truck driver and passenger sustained injuries.
The spokesman of the Ogun State Traffic Compliance and Enforcement Agency (TRACE), Babatunde Akinbiyi, attributed the accident to break failure and excessive speed.
Bodies of the dead victims were deposited at the morgue of Olabisi Onabanjo University Teaching Hospital while the driver and a passenger in the truck were taken to the Ogijo Divisional Police Headquarters with the vehicles.
But a unanimous judgment delivered by Justice T.O. Awotoye dismissed Melaye’s claim that he was not given fair hearing by INEC, saying the electoral umpire was neither a tribunal nor a court of law. The appellate court said there was no limit to the counting of the 90 days for the recall process, as it could be extended.
Melaye had argued that since INEC and the constituents of Kogi West Senatorial District failed to complete the recall process within the 90 days provided by Section 69 (b) of the Constitution which commenced on June 23, 2017 and ended on September 23, 2017, this “renders the entire recall process invalid, null, void, wrongful, illegal, and unconstitutional.”
But the trial court dismissed the suit on the ground that it was “hasty, premature and presumptuous.”
Counsel to Melaye, Nkem Okoro, said the senator would challenge the decision at the Supreme Court.
5 killed, 2 injured as truck rams into park