Dino Melaye urges INEC to cancel Kogi election over malpractice

Sen. Dino Melaye, the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) candidate in Kogi, has asked the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) to cancel the state’s off-cycle poll.

Melaye addressed a press conference in Lokoja, the state capital, on Sunday.

He said that result sheets appeared even before the start of voter registration on Saturday.

“Yesterday, in the five local governments of the central senatorial district in Kogi State, there was no election. In the end, surprisingly, accreditation was done manually; the BVAS was not used,” Melaye said.

“Prepared sheets manifested even before accreditation, and evidence is all over the media.

“INEC, as a matter of urgency, must cancel the election. In many areas where I won, my agents were told there was no available result sheet to enter the result, and we have evidence to back up these claims.

“As I speak to you, it is shameful that this is what our democracy has descended to. INEC has manifested more than before that they cannot be trusted, they are biassed, they are compromised, and they cannot be a neutral umpire.

“INEC officials and youth corps members were caught yesterday with prepared result sheets even before the commencement of the processes. A youth corps member was arrested with a prepared result and N1 million.”

The Social Democratic Party (SDP) has also called for the annulment of the election in the central senatorial district of Kogi.

In a petition addressed to the INEC returning officer at the Lokoja collation centre on Sunday, David Edibo, an agent of the SDP, stated that the party did not recognise the results of the election in five LGAs in the state.

On Saturday, INEC stated that it was looking into complaints of pre-filled result sheets in various voting units in the state.