Dino Melaye had a very rough week and still lost the Kogi PDP governorship ticket

Hours before the Peoples’ Democratic Party (PDP) governorship primary election in Kogi State, Dino Melaye, who represents Kogi West in the senate, boasted that he was going to emerge winner of the vote.

“There is a rumour by evildoers that Dino Melaye has stepped down.

"I did not step down. I will not step down. I am winning this primary. We are coasting to victory, Yahaya Bello (current Governor of Kogi) must go. One love! PDP!!!”, Melaye said.

However, when the vote counting process reached an end on the night of Wednesday, September 4, 2019, Melaye was declared a loser by his political party.

The implication of this loss is that Melaye's hopes of unseating Bello, a governor he loathes these days with a passion, will remain just that—hopes.

Dino Melaye rejects election

Chairman of the Electoral Committee, the Adamawa State Governor Ahmad Fintiri, declared Musa Wada winner of the PDP governorship primary election in Kogi.

Wada secured 748 votes, with Abubakar Ibrahim, son of a former governor of the state, polling second with 710 votes.

Former Kogi State Governor, Idris Wada. lost the PDP primary (Punch) ece-auto-gen

Immediate past governor of Kogi, Idris Wada, polled 340 votes to place third in the election while Dino Melaye was a distant fourth with 70 votes.

“It is ridiculous to declare a final result of PDP governorship primary election in Kogi State when my votes sorted out yesterday in 8 out of 10 ballot boxes are missing. Only to declare votes in 2 out of 10 ballot boxes as my votes. Totally unacceptable,” Melaye fumed, while declaring the election rigged and a sham.

Injury on the election floor

It was the culmination of a very tough week for the singing senator.

TheCable reports that Dino Melaye sustained injuries when gunmen invaded Lokoja Confluence Stadium, venue of the primary, as ballot papers were being sorted and counted.

Dino Melaye in 'sifia' pains (Twitter: @DOlusegun) Pulse Nigeria

One delegate was reportedly shot dead and election chairman, Fintiri, was whisked away to a safer location by his security detail as everyone scampered for safety.

2,388 delegates were accredited to partake in the Kogi PDP primary out of a total of 2,511 from the 21 local government areas of the state.

The Kogi governorship election will hold on November 16, 2019.

Wada of the PDP will go head-to-head with Bello who emerged winner of the All Progressives Congress (APC) primary with 3,091 votes from 3,596 delegates.