The election of Senator Dino Melaye as the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) candidate for governor of Kogi State on November 11 has been characterized as a significant threat to the party by former deputy governor of Kogi State Abayomi Awoniyi.
Awoniyi, a candidate in the PDP governorship primary election held on April 16, 2023, made this revelation on Monday in a statement.
The former deputy governor claimed that Melaye was chosen as the party’s nominee unfairly and that the PDP primary was not free and fair.
Senator Dino Melaye’s victory was a pyrrhic one, according to Awoniyi, who also claimed that 158 of the contest’s 739 votes had already been given to him at the expense of eight other candidates.
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In addition, he claimed that one of the PDP primary voting delegates had previously supported the All Progressive Grand Alliance (APGA) in the recently completed House of Assembly elections.
Awoniyi added that another illegal immigrant delegate was born in and currently resides in a different ward from where his name first surfaced.
The primary that produced Senator Melaye was flawed, claims the statement. 158 delegates from the State Ad-hoc Congress of March 29, 2023, were replaced by the dreadful Sen. Abdul Ningi Congress Committee, which collaborated with Senator Dino Melaye’s highest-ranking enablers within the party hierarchy.
In a contest with 8 candidates and a total of 739 votes, it is unfair to give any candidate more than 158 votes. Due to the fact that the favored applicant receives an unfair advantage, it is dishonest, dishonorable, sinful, and unwholesome. In a rigged primary, Sen. Dino Melaye prevailed.
“Yagba West and Kabba/Bunu are unquestionably my strongholds for the primary elections, and 62 of the 158 delegates imported are from these two LGAs. 29 of the 46 delegates in Ijumu, Senator Melaye’s LGA, were changed.
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If the delegate list from the Ad-hoc Delegates Congress of the 29th March 2023 had been used for the primary on the 16th April 2023, according to Awoniyi, the election would have been deemed a free, fair, and transparent process.
According to reports, Senator Dino Melaye received 313 votes, making him the winner of the PDP governorship primary election that was held on Sunday. Abayomi Awoniyi received 77 votes.