CONSTITUTIONAL PROVISION FOR RECALL OF LEGISLATORS UNDER THE 1999 NIGERIAN CONSTITUTION: A CRITICAL EXAMINATION

Abstract

It is common knowledge that electoral accountability exists when there is clarity of responsibility for political outcomes and voters can effectively sanction those responsible for those outcomes through the powers to, among other things, remove them from office where the exercise of their powers does not lead to the expected outcomes. Thus, for legislators, there is legislative accountability where the electorates have the power to remove an erring legislator from office for misconduct committed in the course of discharging his/her responsibilities. Until 1999, there was no legal mechanism for checking the excesses of legislators by the electorates in Nigeria. Though the 1999 Constitution makes provision for recall of legislators, there has never been an incident of successful recall proceedings in Nigeria. This raises the question as to whether the said provisions of the Constitution are potent enough to protect the power of the people to recall legislators who they no longer want. It is against the foregoing background that this work sets out to critically examine the constitutional provisions for recall of erring legislators in Nigeria. It was found that the said provisions are not sufficiently positioned to check the excesses of the legislators by the electorates. The work therefore recommends an improved legal regime through constitutional amendment.