Senator Dino Melaye Reacts As Appeal Court Nullifies Kogi West Election

The lawmaker representing Kogi West at the Nigerian Senate, Senator Dino Melaye, has urged his “supporters to be law-abiding” in reaction to the judgment of the Appeal Court which nullified his election.

YaahooJournalist had reported earlier that the Kogi West lawmaker lost his appeal on the tribunal judgment that sacked him as a senator in August.

The election of Senator Melaye was nullified August 23 by the Kogi State National Assembly/State Assembly election petition tribunal sitting in Abuja, Nigeria’s capital.

Senator Melaye was declared the winner of the Kogi West Senatorial election by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) in February.

The lawmaker, who contested the election on the platform of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) scored 85,395 votes to defeat Smart Adeyemi of the All Progressives Congress (APC), who polled 66,901 votes, according to the results declared by INEC.

Apparently displeased with the outcome of the election, Senator Adeyemi approached the tribunal which in turn, ruled in his favour August 23.

A three-man panel led by Justice A. O. Chijioke in a unanimous judgment accepted Adeyemi’s ground and ordered for reelection into the Kogi West senatorial district.

Displeased with the judgment of the tribunal, Senator Melaye approached the Appeal Court to appeal the ruling of the Justice Chijioke led tribunal.

However, the Appeal Court, on Friday, October 11, upheld the judgment of the tribunal and ordered a fresh election within 90 days in the Kogi West Senatorial district.

Reacting in a tweet on the micro-blogging site, Twitter after the judgment on Friday, Senator Melaye said: <em>”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. </em>

<em>”I ask my supporters to be law-abiding as we shall always overcome. To God be the Glory,”</em> the senator tweeted.
<blockquote class=”twitter-tweet”>
<p dir=”ltr” lang=”en”>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.</p>
— Senator Dino Melaye. (SDM) (@dino_melaye) <a href=”https://twitter.com/dino_melaye/status/1182595991566016513?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw”>October 11, 2019</a></blockquote>
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