Ododo defeated Melaye at the latter’s polling unit in the Kogi State governorship election.
The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) candidate in the Kogi State governorship election, Senator Dino Melaye, has been handed a defeat at his local government by his counterpart in the All Progressives Congress (APC), Usman Ododo.
Ododo, the endorsed candidate of the outgoing governor of the state, Yahaya Bello, squared up against Melaye and 16 other contestants in the Saturday, November 11, 2023, election.
Pulse reports that results collation got underway in Lokoja, the Kogi State capital, on Sunday morning, and parties have started tabulating their final tally.
However, the APC candidate has won the majority of votes in Melaye’s local government, Ijumu. Ododo claimed the victory after collecting 10,524 votes.
The PDP candidate trailed behind with 6,909 votes, while Leke Abejide of the African Democratic Congress (ADC) garnered 1,898 votes to finish a distant third.
Candidate of the Social Democratic Party (SDP), Murtala Ajaka, collected 356 votes to finish fourth in Ijumu local government.
Melaye had called for the cancellation of election in some local governments in Kogi State on Saturday, citing irregularities and compromise by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC).
The Senator raised the alarm in a video post on his Twitter page on Saturday, where he also accused the APC of planning to manipulate the exercise in Ogori/Magongo LGA.
In the video, Melaye said, “Result sheets have been written. There is a massive protest in Ogori/Magongo Local Government Area of Kogi State right now.
“The result sheets have been filled and tampered with already and people are refusing to accredit, people are refusing to vote and they are insisting that plain result sheets must be shown to agents in accordance with electoral laws.”
