Former Deputy Governor of Kogi State, Architect Yomi Awoniyi, has described the victory of Senator Dino Melaye as the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) candidate for November 11 governorship election in Kogi State as a great threat to the party.
Awoniyi, who is an aspirant in the PDP governorship primary election held on Sunday, 16th April 2023, disclosed this on Monday in a statement made available to newsmen in Lokoja.
The former deputy governor, who alleged that the PDP primary was not free and fair, said the election that brought Melaye as the party flagbearer was flawed.
While explaining that Senator Melaye’s victory is a pyrrhic one, Awoniyi further alleged that 158 votes of 739 votes of the contest were already allocated to Senator Dino Melaye to the detriment of eight other aspirants.
He further alleged that one of the delegates that voted during the PDP primary was imported from the All Progressive Grand Alliance (APGA) in the just concluded House of Assembly elections.
Awoniyi added that another illegally imported delegate is native to and resides in a ward different from where his name emerged.
According to the statement: “The primary that threw up Senator Melaye was flawed. 158 delegates who emerged from the State Ad-hoc Congress of the 29th March 2023 were replaced by the woeful Sen. 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 8 aspirants is not a fair contest. It is fraudulent, duplicitous, sinful, and unwholesome because it confers undue advantage on the favoured aspirant. Sen Dino Melaye won a fraudulent primary.
“62 of the 158 delegates imported come from two LGAs, Yagba West and Kabba/Bunu, which are undoubtedly my strongholds for the primary elections. In Ijumu, Senator Melaye’s LGA, 29 of the 46 delegates were switched.”
Awoniyi is of the view that if the delegate list which came from the Ad-hoc Delegates Congress of the 29th March 2023 had been used for the primary of the 16th April 2023, the election would have been tagged a free, fair and transparent exercise.
Recall that the PDP governorship primary election held on Sunday, in Lokoja, Awoniyi polled 77 votes while Senator Dino Melaye scored 313 votes in which he (Melaye) was declared the winner of the election.
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