Dino Melaye, the flag-bearer of Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in Kogi, has said that he only gave anointing oil to delegates to the party primary in the State.
Dino said he did not give any bribe to get the party’s ticket as alleged by other aspirants.
Some aggrieved aspirants had faulted the emergence of Dino Melaye as the PDP governorship candidate for Kogi November 2023 election alleging the latter’s votes were a product of a tainted delegates’ list.
The former Kogi Deputy Governor, Yomi Awoniyi had alleged in a statement said, “Without an iota of doubt, I make bold to say that Senator Melaye’s victory is a pyrrhic one.
“This victory portends great danger to the unity of our party and the prospect of winning the November 11 governorship election.
“The primary that threw up Senator Melaye was flawed; 158 delegates, who emerged from the state ad hoc congress of March 29, 2023, were replaced by the woeful Senator Abdul Ningi Congress Committee, working in concert with Melaye’s enablers within the party hierarchy at the highest level.”
But, reacting on Channels Television Politics Today on Tuesday, Dino Melaye said the “anointing oil” he gave delegates “did the magic”.
He also disagreed with claims that the delegates’ list was manipulated before the election adding that his margin of win doubled the allegedly manipulated list that was replaced according to the complainants.
In the primary, Dino polled 313 votes to defeat his closest rival, Jabiru Usman who polled 127 votes.
The chairman, PDP primary Election Committee, Ahmed Makarfi announced the results on Sunday at end of the indirect primary held in Lokoja, the Kogi State capital.
A former Deputy Governor, Yomi Awoniyi scored 77 votes and the PDP governorship candidate in 2019, Musa Wada had a total of 56 votes.
