Kogi 2023: Why Melaye can’t be PDP’s candidate — Ex-Deputy Governor

An aspirant for the ticket of the Peoples Democratic Party for the November 11, 2023 governorship election in Kogi State, Yomi Awoniyi, has faulted the emergence of the former representative of Kogi West Senatorial District, Dino Melaye, as the winner of the party’s primaries....CONTINUE READING

The former Deputy Governor of Kogi State made his position known on Monday after the primaries on Sunday….CONTINUE READING

Melaye won the primaries with 313 votes, Ilona Idoko-Kingsley scored 124 votes to come second, while Awoniyi came third with 77 votes.

In a statement on Monday in Lokoja, the Kogi State capital, Awoniyi said: “Without an iota of doubt, I make bold to say Senator Melaye’s victory is a pyrrhic one.

“This victory portends great danger to the unity of our party and the prospect of winning the November 11 governorship election.

“The primary that threw up Senator Melaye was flawed; 158 delegates, who emerged from the state ad hoc congress of March 29, 2023, were replaced by the woeful Senator Abdul Ningi Congress Committee, working in concert with Senator Dino Melaye’s enablers within the party hierarchy at the highest level.

“To gift any aspirant, a total of 158 votes in a contest for 739 votes, involving eight aspirants is not a fair contest.

“It is fraudulent, duplicitous, sinful, and unwholesome because it confers an undue advantage on the favoured aspirant.

“Senator Dino Melaye won a fraudulent primary.

“This pyrrhic victory may look like a fait accompli, but the dust is unlikely to settle even beyond the November 11, 2023 governorship election.

“From the forgoing, it may surprise many that I do not necessarily blame Senator Dino Melaye for where we find ourselves today.

“He needs to search his heart to see if he has behaved well, as a counsellor of the celestial, which he claims to be.

“But I blame his enablers….CONTINUE READING