Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) Senator Dino Melaye has lost the Kogi West Senatorial rerun to All Progressives Congress (APC) Senator Smart Adeyemi. Correspondent JAMES AZANIA writes on the lessons of the election.
What next for Senator Dino Melaye, defeated Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) flagbearer, who lost the Kogi West senatorial rerun to Senator Smart Adeyemi of the All Progressives Congress (APC)?
He lost the seat by a margin of over 20, 000 votes.
He was defeated by Adeyemi, a two-term senator, who represented the district in the fourth and fifth Assembly.
Adeyemi defeated Melaye’s, having polled 88,373 votes while Melaye polled 62,133 votes.
The Returning Officer, Prof. Olayide Lawal of the Federal University, Oye, Ekiti, noted that the rerun became necessary, in view of the fact that no clear winner emerged in the November 16 rerun.
He said the margin was less than the cancelled votes, and the exercise was, therefore, inconclusive, according to electoral laws.
Legal fireworks ensued over who represented the Kogi West in the Senate, with Adeyemi dragging his arch political rival before the Kogi National Assembly and State Assembly Election Petition Tribunal, which sat in Abuja.
Since 1999, no election into the Senate in Kogi West has gone without litigations.
The district had produced three senators Tunde Ogbeha (1999 – 2007), Adeyemi (2007-2015) and Melaye (2015 – ).
Melaye was declared winner on the platform of the APC, defeating Adeyemi of the then ruling PDP, back in 2015.
Adeyemi contended among others that Melaye did not win the election and was not validly nominated by his party to run. He however, lost at the Appeal Court level.
During the last National Assembly elections, Melaye and Adeyemi squard up again, under reverse political parties, as senatorial candidates.
Adeyemi contested Melaye’s victory and won up to the Appeal Court, which ordered a supplementary election, after the inconclusive poll.
Melaye had boxed himself into a corner with series of political conflagrations that he got himself entangled in, the least of which was his rift with Governor Yahaya Bello, who did not hide his desire to consign him into political oblivion.
Bello had earlier failed to force Melaye, who was formerly his ally, out from the Senate, with the unsuccessful recall exercise.
Adeyemi’s political trajectory got on the upswing, when he pictched tent with Bello, defecting to the APC, and securing state backing, to achieve his ambition.
Adeyemi emerged as the Director -General of the Bello/Onoja Governorship Campaign Council, at the Kogi poll, a position that worked so well for him during his own election, which held simultaneously on the day of the governership election.
Following his victory, Adeyemi came out blasting from all cylinders, saying among others, that Mekaye had never won any election in Kogi West.
Melaye has, however, maintained that his defeat is sure to be reversed, describing his opponent’s victory as a fraud. He vowed to appeal the verdict.
At a press conference in Lokoja, the state capital, the senator-elect described Melaye’s stay at the National Assembly as a total disaster.
He described Melaye as his political boy, who became so errant, pouring insults on those that ‘made him.’
His words: “Dino was insulting everyone that made him. Nobody is too big for him to insult; fighting people. So, I am apologising to Mr. President Muhammadu Buhari on behalf of Dino to forgive him. I am apologising to former President Olusegun Obasanjo on behalf of Dino, to forgive him. I am apologising to Asiwaju Bola Tinubu on behalf of Dino, to forgive him.
“I am apologising to Governor Yahaya Bello on behalf of Dino, to forgive him. I am apologising to security agencies, who he has dispatched on several occasions, on behalf of Dino, to forgive him.
“I am apologising to the people of Nigeria, Kogi State and Kogi West on behalf of Dino to forgive him. He was a disaster when he was at the National Assembly.
“I will bring development to my state and my constituency by the grace of God. My victory shows that the people of Kogi West want progress and development. Dino never won any election in this state.”
He thanked the APC for its support and Bello for making the party very strong in the state.
Melaye said he will challenge the “temporal and evaporative victory” of Adeyemi at the tribunal.
In a press statement in Lokoja, Melaye said, the vctory attained by violence and fraud is tantamount to defeat, for it is momentary.”
He added: “It is not about Dino Melaye; it is about Nigeria and our electoral system. I stay the course… not over yet.
“I want to specially thank God almighty that he preserved my life after five attempted assassination, combined forces of security agencies, INEC, federal, state and LG powers.
“I was fought on land, in the air and spiritually. It was not about election but my life. God I thank you. The reaction of men and women of goodwill all over Nigeria, especially the wonderful people of Kogi West, who truly voted for me, is a testimony that God is with me and with us all. I won the election and Adeyemi remain my political wife.
“The forces against me are not beyound God. People should not worry about me. I am fine and will always be. I just thank God that the plan to kill me did not succeed. A living dog is better than a dead lion. I thank God for life. My name is Daniel; I cannot fall or fail.”
With the situation on ground, it would appear that the last is yet to be heard about the battle of political supremacy between Adeyemi and Melaye. (The Nation)
