No responsible person would pursue legal action over election results – Dino Melaye
No responsible person would pursue legal action over election results – Dino Melaye
Dino Melaye, candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in the 2023 gubernatorial election of Kogi State, has revealed that he will not challenge the outcome of the election at the tribunal because it will be a waste of efforts.
After the election held on Saturday, 11th November, candidate of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Usman Ododo, was declared winner by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC).
READ ALSO: Senator Dino Melaye wins PDP governorship ticket in Kogi
Ododo secured 446,237 votes, while Murtala Ajaka of the Social Democratic Party (SDP) came second with 259,052 votes, and Melaye garnered 46,362 votes, placing third.
During a press conference in Abuja on Wednesday, Melaye stated that it is a waste of time going to court to challenge election results and alleged that the judiciary has been compromised.
Melaye stressed that he will not engage with a “captured judiciary” by filing a petition over the Kogi governorship election, where he claimed that the majority of results were pre-written by INEC officials under the supervision of Professor Mahmood Yakubu, whom he labeled as the most ‘incompetent person’ to preside over the election management body in Nigeria.
Melaye also called for opposition political parties to boycott all future elections unless the current INEC is dissolved and a new set of non-partisan Chairman and Commissioners are appointed.
He argued that participating in future elections under the current circumstances would give legitimacy to the “continued rape of democracy in Nigeria.”
It is important to note that the Independent National Electoral Commission had declared Usman Ododo, candidate of the All Progressives Congress (APC), as the winner of the Kogi governorship election held on November 11, 2023.
Ododo secured 446,237 votes, while Murtala Ajaka of the Social Democratic Party (SDP) came second with 259,052 votes, and Melaye secured 46,362 votes, placing third.