AFTER ten months of struggle to return to the Senate for the 3rd time, Candidate of the People’s Democratic Party, Dino Melaye has been defeated by the All Progressive Congress (APC), Smart Adeyemi at the Kogi West Senatorial supplementary Elections.
The Returning Officer of the election, professor Olajide Lawal made this known on Saturday after the collation of results in Kogi State.
He said Adeyemi polled a total of 88,373 votes to defeat Dino Melaye who was able to gather a total vote of 62,133.
This came after the election of the senatorial district was declared inconclusive.
Candidate of the Social Democratic Party (SDP) Rufus Aiyenigba trailed Dino, polling a total of 659 votes while John Olabode of the African Democratic Congress (ADC) had 262.
The returning officer of the election had declared the November 16 election as inconclusive on the basis that the number of cancelled votes in 53 polling units was more than the 20, 570 margin with which Adeyemi defeated Dino.
The Kogi West Senatorial Election was therefore annulled by the court of appeal which ruled that a rerun be conducted after Adeyemi approached the court to nullify the elections due to over-voting, irregularities and non-compliance with the electoral act.
Lukman Abolade is an Investigative reporter with The ICIR. Reach out to him via labolade@icirnigeria.org, on twitter @AboladeLAA and FB @Correction94