There is palpable anxiety in the political camp of Dino Melaye, the senator representing Kogi West in the National Assembly, following the outcome of the recently concluded governorship primaries of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in Kogi State.
Although he had gone into the primary election with high hopes of picking the party’s ticket for the governorship election of the state scheduled to hold on November 16, the result was nothing short of a catastrophe, considering that he had just been sacked by the state’s National Assembly/State Assembly Election Petitions Tribunal.
The rambunctious senator was still smarting from the shock of the tribunal’s verdict when the governorship primaries of the party was held with him polling a paltry 70 votes to emerge a fourth behind the winner, Musa Wada who polled 748 votes, Ibrahim Abubakar who polled 710 votes and the immediate past governor of the state, Idris Wada, who came third with 345 votes.
The result of the primary election coupled with his sack by the tribunal as senator means that Melaye faces the grim prospect of a long spell in political wilderness if he fails to reverse the verdict of the tribunal in a superior court.
Little wonder he has been ranting on twitter over missing votes from eight out of 10 ballot boxes since Wada was declared winner, while the APC candidate, Governor Yahaya Bello, has been celebrating the defeat as if he has won re-election.
