A former Deputy Governor of Kogi State, Abayomi Awoniyi, has alleged that the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) primary election held on Sunday, April 16, in the state and won by Senator Dino Melaye was not free and fair.
The PDP chieftain alleged that some delegates that voted during the election were imported.
This is as Awoniyi asserted that Melaye as PDP flag bearer for the November 11 governorship election in Kogi State is a great threat to the party.
OsunDaily News understands that Awoniyi was also an aspirant in the PDP governorship primary election held in the state yesterday.
In a statement on Monday, Awoniyi said Melaye’s victory is a pyrrhic one, stressing that 158 votes of 739 votes of the contest were already allocated to the former lawmaker to the detriment of eight other aspirants.
He further alleged that one of the delegates that voted during the PDP primary was imported from the All Progressive Grand Alliance (APGA) in the just concluded House of Assembly elections.
Awoniyi added that another illegally imported delegate is native to and resides in a ward different from where his name emerged.
“The primary that threw up Senator Melaye was flawed. 158 delegates who emerged from the State Ad-hoc Congress of the 29th March 2023 were replaced by the woeful Sen. Abdul Ningi Congress Committee, working in concert with Senator Dino Melaye’s enablers within the party hierarchy at the highest level.
“To gift any aspirant a total of 158 votes in a contest for 739 votes involving 8 aspirants is not a fair contest. It is fraudulent, duplicitous, sinful, and unwholesome because it confers an undue advantage on the favoured aspirant. Sen Dino Melaye won a fraudulent primary.
“62 of the 158 delegates imported come from two LGAs, Yagba West and Kabba/Bunu, which are undoubtedly my strongholds for the primary elections. In Ijumu, Senator Melaye’s LGA, 29 of the 46 delegates were switched,” Daily Post quoted the former deputy governor saying.
Awoniyi is of the view that if the delegate list, which came from the Ad-hoc Delegates Congress of the 29th March 2023 had been used for the primary of the 16th April 2023, the election would have been tagged a free, fair and transparent exercise.
