A former deputy governor of Kogi State, Yomi Awoniyi, says the Peoples Democratic Party governorship primary in Kogi State on Sunday lacks credibility.
A former senator representing Kogi West, Dino
Melaye, emerged winner of the primary with 313 votes. Awoniyi came second with
77 votes.
But in a statement on Monday in Lokoja,
Awoniyi described Melaye’s votes as products of “tainted delegates list.”
“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.”
Awoniyi contended that “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.”
Meanwhile, Melaye, in a statement on Monday,
credited God for his emergence as the PDP governorship candidate for Kogi
State.
He said, “Today (Sunday), April 16, 2023, the
Almighty God proved himself in my life, by responding to my Biblical name,
Daniel. He fought on my behalf, and
delivered victory to me, which I received on behalf of all other aspirants, the
great members of the Peoples Democratic Party
in and outside Kogi State, and the good people of our dear Kogi State.
“Coming on the heels of the democratic
sacrilege committed by the All Progressives Congress in Kogi State about 48
hours ago, and the electoral revulsion belching out of Adamawa State, it is
soul-lifting to have the PDP demonstrate to the world that Nigeria is not the
jungle that the APC paints it in the recently conducted elections over the last
50 days.
“I thank the leaders of our party at the
national, State, local and ward levels, my dear brothers who advanced the cause
of democracy in this contest and our numerous supporters who ensured that peace
reigned, decorum prevailed, and conflicts were contained all through the
process.”
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