COVID-19 palliatives as birthday souvenirs, and 7 other reasons constituents want to recall Alli-Macaulay from Lagos Assembly

Her viral comments were made during a plenary session on Monday, October 26, 2020 during a deliberation on the devastation that spread across Lagos after the state government announced a curfew to quell the two-week long protests against police brutality.

She said youths had no reason for misbehaving and causing damage in public, telling them to solve problems with their talents.

“They (Nigerian youths) are high on drugs all the time, most of them. They go to social media to do all sorts of things,” she had said.

In a petition received by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) on Monday, November 2, AOSCF said it wants to initiate a recall process as stipulated by Section 110 of the 1999 constitution (as amended).

“Unfortunately, our representative has been religiously inaccessible since she was sworn in on our behalf,” the group said.

The group listed eight grounds for the recall of the lawmaker who has been under fire since last week.

The grounds are reproduced below in the group’s words:

1. We are stating emphatically that she does not have a constituency office as required by the law for almost two years of her four-year tenure.
2. We are yet to hear or see a bill she has sponsored or supported since she assumed office. Such a bill that will add positive values to our lives and by extension, Lagosians.
3. Her continuous representation of our constituency has not been in tandem with our collective aspiration as a constituency. Most of the issues bedevilling our constituency, particularly road and drainage infrastructures has not received the needed attention from the Lagos State Government.
4. It is saddening that our representative used COVID-19 palliatives as souvenirs during her last birthday party. Despite the suffering that ravaged the entire nation during the COVID-19 pandemic.
5. She has consistently refused to give an account of her stewardship since she assumed office.
6. She has also religiously remained inaccessible since she assumed office. The few times she visited the constituency it was in company of stern military personnel.
7. She has also brought global embarrassment on us during a recent plenary where she maliciously addressed Nigerian youths as drug addicts. To us, this is highly insensitive and inciting knowing fully very well that the nation is yet to recover from the destruction that pervaded the entire country.
8. Summarily, leaving her to continue in representing our constituency will dash our hope of having fair share of development in Lagos State.

The petition was signed by Kingsley Nwanze, convener of AOSCF, and Gbenga Akinbinu, the group’s secretary.

Nwanze showed Pulse a copy of the petition stamped by INEC to signify receipt on Monday.

He said the submission of signatures to INEC will be made later this week.

51.1% of registered voters in Amuwo Odofin Constituency I must sign a recall register and submit to INEC before the commission can kick off the process.

A verification of the signatures will be done by INEC, and if the signatures are deemed to be authentic, a referendum will be held in the constituency with a simple majority of constituents expected to vote Yes or No.

The lawmaker will be officially recalled if a simple majority says Yes, and INEC will conduct a bye-election to fill the vacated spot.

Alli-Macaulay has not responded to phone calls and messages from Pulse for her reaction to the chain of events since last week.