Attempts made in the past to recall lawmakers have
failed [Twitter/@SpeakerGbaja]
On record, no Nigerian lawmaker has ever been
successfully recalled.
The 1999 constitution (as amended) empowers
Nigerian voters to sack elected lawmakers at any
point during their four-year term with a carefully
laid out recall process.
Sections 69 and 110 of the 1999 constitution (as
amended) allows registered voters in a lawmaker's
constituency to recall them if there's a loss of
confidence in the lawmaker.
The recall process can be used to sack elected
lawmakers in the National Assembly, State House
of Assembly, and a councilor in an Area Council of
the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), Abuja.
Below is a quick rundown of the process:
Collation and submission of signatures
Over 50% of registered voters in a lawmaker's
constituency must sign a recall petition to be
submitted to the chairman of the Independent
National Electoral Commission (INEC).
For example, if a constituency has a total of 100
voters, at least 51 of them must sign the petition to
trigger the recall process.
It doesn't matter if less than 50 of the 100
registered voters participated in the election that
earned the lawmaker their seat in the first place.
Petitioners can request a Certified True Copy (CTC)
of registered voters from INEC to confirm the
number of registered voters in the constituency.
Notification and Verification
After crosschecking to confirm that the petition is in
proper order, INEC will notify the affected lawmaker
of the recall against them.
A timetable of events will then be released by the
commission to outline how the process will be
handled.
A verification exercise will be conducted at polling
units in the lawmaker's constituency.
The verification applies only to all those registered
voters who signed the petition as they will be
required to appear physically to confirm that they
signed the recall register themselves.
If the signatures of over 50% of registered voters
who signed the petition are verified, the process
proceeds to the next crucial stage.
Referendum
If the verification is successful, a referendum will be
conducted in the constituency.
The referendum requires all registered voters in the
constituency to vote 'Yes' or 'No' to determine if the
lawmaker should be recalled or not.
If the referendum ends in a 'No' vote, the lawmaker
will continue their term. The petitioners are allowed
to start the process all over again.
If the referendum ends in a 'Yes' vote, INEC will
send a Certificate of Recall to the lawmaker's
legislative house to officially notify that the
lawmaker has been sacked.
Constitutionally, the recall process must be
completed within 90 days from when INEC receives
the signatures.
Bye-election
INEC will conduct a bye-election to fill the vacant
seat.
The recalled lawmaker is allowed to take part in the
bye-election.
On record, no Nigerian lawmaker has ever been
successfully recalled.
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