Melaye calls for cancellation of Kogi guber election

Dino Melaye, the candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), has called for the cancellation of the Kogi State governorship election, describing the conduct of the exercise as “shameful”.

Mr Melaye’s angry remarks came during a press conference in Lokoja on Sunday, just as the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) continued with collation of the results of the poll.

“I will start by condemning in its totality the conduct of the elections yesterday and outrightly call for the total cancellation of the election because that was not an election,” He insisted.

Mr Melaye alleged that there was no election in five local governments of the central senatorial district in Kogi state and accreditation was done manually, with the BVAS not put to use.

The PDP flag-bearer called on INEC “as a matter of urgency” to cancel the election.

“In many areas where I won, my agents were told there were no available result sheets to enter the result and we have evidence to back up these claims,” he said.

Meanwhile, Usman Ododo, the candidate of the All Progressive’s Congress (APC), has been declared winner of Saturday’s governorship election in the state.

Professor Johnson Urama, the State Returning Officer and Deputy Vice-Chancellor, Academics, University of Nigeria, Nsukka, announced Mr Ododo the winner on Sunday.

The APC candidate polled a total vote of 446,237 to defeat his closest rival, Murtala Ajaka of the Social Democratic Party (SDP) who scored 259,052, while Mr Melaye of the PDP garnered 46,362 votes.

Mr Ajaka of the SDP also rejected the outcome of the poll, expressing disappointment in the entire process.

However, INEC, in a swift response to the matter, assured Nigerians that it would look into the issue.

“Our attention has been drawn to a report that filled result sheets were discovered in some polling units in Kogi State,” the commission said on X. “The Commission views this situation seriously,” it added.