APPEAL court sitting in Abuja, on Friday sacked the Senator representing Kogi West, Dino Melaye and ordered a re-run of the election.
Dino Melaye appealed against the decision of the Kogi Election Petition Tribunal which ruled that the election that brought Melaye as a senator representing Kogi West for a second time in office be re-run.
Smart Adeyemi, the All Progressive Congress (APC) candidate approached the tribunal to nullify the election over the basis of over-voting, irregularities and non-compliance with the electoral act.
During the February 23 election in Kogi state, the PDP candidate Dino Melaye had 85,395 votes while APC candidate Smart Adeyemi had 66,092 votes.
However, the election has been nullified by the Kogi Election Petition Tribunal and the Appeal Court.
Dino Melaye also confirmed the news of his sack at the tribunal on his official twitter handle, urged his supporters to be law-abiding as they await the rerun of the election by November along with the Governorship elections of the state.
“I just lost my election at the Appeal Court and fresh election ordered. In all things, I give God the praise. He who started a good thing will definitely complete it. I ask my supporters to be law abiding as we shall always overcome. To God be the Glory,” he wrote.
Melaye and the PDP have been reported to be at loggerheads following his aspiration to contest as the gubernatorial candidate of PDP.
He expressed his displeasure at the primary elections after losing to Musa Wada as he also rejected the appointment as the Director-General of the Kogi State Campaign in 2019.
“Let me state categorically that I have turned down the position of Director-General of the PDP Kogi State Governorship Campaign Council. I wish PDP all the best. When truth is a casualty there is chaos,” he wrote on his twitter handle.
Lukman Abolade is an Investigative reporter with The ICIR. Reach out to him via [email protected], on twitter @AboladeLAA and FB @Correction94