Kogi Poll: Melaye Says Opposition Met To Decide ‘He Must Become A Distant Third’

The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) governorship candidate in Kogi State, Senator Dino Melaye, has alleged that some unnamed political enemies met to decide “he must become a distant third” in Saturday’s keenly contested election.

Melaye spoke on Monday during a live appearance on Channels Television’s Politics Today, while making a case for over-voting in 17 of the North Central state’s 21 local government areas (LGAs).

“A meeting was held and they said, ‘Dino Melaye must not come second because if he comes second, it’s dangerous… so, he must become a distant third.’ There was no election; there was only allocation of votes,” he alleged.

Usman Ododo of the All Progressives Congress (APC) polled 446,237 votes to be declared the winner by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC).

Murtala Ajaka of the Social Democratic Party (SDP) came second with 259,052 votes, while Melaye scored 46,362.

“Normally, Ajaka should not be excited that he won one, two, or three local governments in the East. It was allocated,” Melaye said.

According to the former lawmaker, the same thing happened in the February 25 presidential election.

“Lagos was given to Labour,” he said. “Labour should not think they won [in] Lagos; it was deliberate. The mathematics was done. The arithmetic was done.”

The Kogi PDP candidate argued further that the 2023 New Nigeria Peoples Party (NNPP) presidential candidate, Rabiu Kwankwaso, was “given Kano, knowing fully well that other states had been padded.”

In Melaye’s view, this was the “exact same formula that was used in Kogi State”.