Kogi West: What Dino Melaye Said About Tribunal Ruling

Senator Dino Melaye says he will appeal the judgment of the Kogi State National Assembly/State Assembly election petition tribunal, which nullified his election as Kogi West senator earlier today.

YaahooJournalist had reported earlier that the tribunal nullified Senator Melaye’s Kogi West election on Friday morning, August 23.

This online news medium recalls that the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) declared Senator Melaye the winner of the Kogi West Senatorial election in February.

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

Displeased with the result of the election declared by INEC, Adeyemi approached the tribunal which in turn, ruled in his favour on Friday.

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.

Reacting to the ruling in a tweet on the micro-blogging site, Twitter, Melaye, who wants to be Kogi governor, assured his supporters that there is no cause for alarm, noting that if the tribunal had ruled in his favour, his challenger would have approached the appeal court.

“On Tribunal judgment. No cause 4 alarm at all. Even if it went my way they will still go to the Appeal Court. Our mandate can not be taken.

“We will get judgment at the Appeal Court. There will be fresh election in Kogi West bc I will be Governor. For my Senate mandate no shaking.”

On Tribunal judgement. No cause 4 alarm at all. Even if it went my way they will still go to the Appeal Court. Our mandate can not be taken. We will get judgment at the Appeal Court. There will be fresh election in Kogi West bc I will be Governor. For my Senate mandate no shaking

— Senator Dino Melaye. (SDM) (@dino_melaye) August 23, 2019