Kogi – The governorship candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in Kogi State, Dino Melaye, has responded to claims that he did not go out to vote in the recent governorship election.
Melaye did not confirm whether he voted or not, but he stated that voting is not mandatory according to the law.
“The issue of voting or not voting has no legal status; people win elections from prison, so if we want to go into issues about this election, the processes the conclusion, instead of buying time discussing issues that has no relevance to the election, whether i voted or not is immaterial because there is no legal status for the wether you voted or not I say people who are even in prison, win elections from prison,” Melaye said.
Melaye, who lost in the governorship election, reportedly did not participate in the voting process as a protest against what he believed was a flawed election.
However, Melaye held a press conference at his home and accused the All Progressives Congress, led by Yahaya Bello, of colluding with the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) to manipulate the election in favor of Usman Ododo.
Despite the cancellation of results from 59 polling units, Ododo was declared the winner by the election commission.
Ododo received a total of 446,237 votes, defeating the Social Democratic Party, which received 259,052 votes, and Melaye, who came in third with 46,362 votes.
