The flagbearer of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) during the governorship poll in Kogi State, Senator Dino Melaye said it does not matter whether he voted in the election or not.
Melaye, who spoke on the Channels Television programme, ‘Politics Today’, claimed that there was no election in the state on Saturday, November 11, 2023.
He said what the people of Kogi state witnessed was just an allocation of votes.
“Legally, it has no relevance to the election. Whether I voted or not, it is immaterial,” Melaye said.
“The issue of voting or not voting does not have any legal status because people win elections from the prison.”
Melaye finished a distant third in the election after the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) declared Usman Ododo of the All Progressives Congress (APC) as the winner of the governorship poll in Kogi.
Ododo won with a total vote of 446,237, Murtala Ajaka of the Social Democratic Party (PDP) garnered 259,052 votes while Melaye came a distant third after having 46,362 votes.
Melaye was quite unhappy with the conduct of the election and said so during his interview on Channels TV and claimed the powers that be already concluded that he would come third.
“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 said.
The PDP governorship candidate further noted that votes were allocated to the SDP candidate, Ajaka, in the eastern part of Kogi state.
“Normally, Ajaka should not be excited that he won one, two, or three local governments in the East. It was allocated,” Melaye said.
“Lagos was given to Labour but Labour should not think they won in Lagos, it was deliberate. The mathematics was done. The arithmetic was done.”
The Guardian
