Yomi Awoniyi, a governorship aspirant under the platform of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in Kogi State, says the primary election that produced Senator Dino Melaye as Party’s gubernatorial candidate is lacking in credibility.
The former deputy governor of the State, also said that Melaye emerged through a tainted delegate list.
Information Nigeria had reported that Melaye, who represented Kogi West at the National Assembly, was declared winner of the Kogi State PDP governorship primary on Sunday after scoring 313 votes against Awoniyi’s 77 votes.
Awoniyi, via a statement on Monday in Lokoja, said: “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.
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“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 further stated that it was not fair to gift any aspirant, a total of 158 votes in a contest for 739 votes, involving eight aspirants.
“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”, he added.
