Mr. Abayomi Awoniyi, one of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) Kogi governorship aspirants, has said the party’s Sunday primary election was not credible enough.
He said this in a statement on Monday in Lokoja, adding that the election was not free, fair or credible as it was marred by fraud.
Sen. Dino Melaye had emerged as the PDP candidate for the Nov. 11 governorship election.
Alhaji Ahmed Makarfi, the chairman of the PDP primary election committee said that Melaye scored 313 votes to defeat his closest rival, Ilona Idoko-Kingsley who scored 124 votes at the primaries.
But Awoniyi, a former deputy governor of the state, said the election was not credible. According to him, “This has led to the PDP in Kogi State, fluffing a great opportunity of winning back the state from the ruling party.” He said the delegates’ list was tainted with lots of manipulation and replacement of authentic delegates’ names from Yagba West, Kabba/Bunu and Ijumu Local Government Areas (LGAs) of the state.
“Without an iota of doubt, I make bold to say Melaye’s victory is a pyrrhic one. This victory portends great danger to the unity of our party and the prospect of winning the Nov. 11 governorship election. The reason for this assertion is simple. The primary that threw up Melaye was flawed.
“About 158 delegates who emerged from the state ad hoc congress of March 29, were replaced by the Sen. Abdul Ningi Congress Committee working in concert with 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 eight aspirants is not a fair contest. It is fraudulent, duplicitous, sinful, and unwholesome because it confers undue advantage on the favoured aspirant,” he said.
Awoniyi added: “Sen. Dino Melaye won a fraudulent primary. What we have today in Kogi, is discontent within the PDP rank and file, and some measure of elation within the other political party. This pyrrhic victory may look like a fait accompli, but the dust is unlikely to settle even beyond the Nov. 11 governorship election.”
(NAN)
