Melaye rejects Kogi election results, alleges INEC manipulation

Dino Melaye, the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) candidate in the Kogi governorship election, has rejected the results announced by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), alleging that the electoral body manipulated the votes.

Melaye, who spoke to Channels Television on Monday, said there was no election in Kogi on Saturday, but only an allocation of votes by INEC.

He described the election as “shameful” and said it was a setback for democracy in Nigeria.

He said he cannot accept the outcome of an election that was far from credible, and that he has evidence to prove his claim.

“There was no election and I’m going to prove it. There was only allocation of votes by INEC.

“The election is shameful. I sympathise with this country. It is a big shame,” he said.

He also said that it was irrelevant whether he voted or not, as the issue of voting or not voting has no legal status.

He won his polling unit with 210 votes against APC’s 22 votes, but he did not confirm if he cast his vote or not.

On Sunday, INEC declared Usman Ododo of the All Progressives Congress (APC) as the winner of the Kogi governorship election.

Ododo polled 446, 237 votes to defeat Murtala Ajaka of the Social Democratic Party (SDP), who came second with 259,052 votes. Melaye came distant third with 46,362 votes.