Melaye Emerges as PDP Candidate for Kogi Governorship Election; LP, APM Also Name Candidates

Former Senator Dino Melaye has won the governorship ticket of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) for the November 11 gubernatorial election in Kogi State. Melaye polled 313 votes to defeat his closest rival, Jabiru Usman, who scored 127 votes.

The PDP Primary Election Committee Chairman, Ahmed Makarfi, announced the results on Sunday at the end of the indirect primary held in Lokoja. Other candidates who contested for the PDP ticket were a former deputy governor of the state, Yomi Awoniyi, who scored 77 votes, and the PDP governorship candidate in 2019, Musa Wada, who finished fourth with 56 votes.

Meanwhile, Adejo Okeme, a legal practitioner, emerged as the candidate of the Labour Party (LP) for the same election. Okeme polled 127 votes to beat his closest rival, Isaac Alfa, who scored 69 votes at the indirect primary held on Saturday in Lokoja. The primary was held under the supervision of a seven-member committee, led by the LP Deputy National Chairman, Dr Ayo Olorunfemi. Dauda Isah also emerged as the Allied Peoples’ Movement (APM) consensus candidate for the election after scoring 69 votes at the primary election held amid tight security at the party’s secretariat in Lokoja.

On the other hand, the African Democratic Congress (ADC) produced two factional governorship candidates. Leke Abejide, the lawmaker representing Yagba Federal Constituency, emerged as the ADC sole governorship candidate on Saturday after a direct primary across the 239 wards of the 21 local government areas of the state, while another faction of the party picked a lawyer, Dele Williams, as the party’s flagbearer in an indirect primary election held on Sunday in Lokoja. Williams was the senatorial candidate of the party in Kogi West in the last general elections but lost to the All Progressives Congress candidate, Sunday Karimi.