Smart Adeyemi has outsmarted Dino Melaye in the supplementary and re-run elections for Kogi West Senatorial District and Ajaokuta Federal Constituency on Saturday, November 30.
The Independent Electoral Commission (INEC) had declared the Kogi West Senatorial election on Saturday, November 16, 2019, inconclusive due to violence and killings that characterised the exercise.
INEC’s National Commissioner and Chairman, Information and Voter Education Committee, Mr Festus Okoye, had said in a statement that the decision was taken at a meeting held in Abuja on Thursday.
Senators Melaye of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and Adeyemi of the All Progressives Congress (APC) went for another round of election battle for Kogi West Senatorial seat after INEC declared the November 16 senatorial re-run inconclusive because the margin of win was less than the total cancelled votes.
The Returning Officer of the election, Professor Olajide Lawal, announced this on Saturday, November 30 at the collation centre in Kogi State.
According to him, Senator Adeyemi of APC polled a total of 88,373 votes to beat Senator Dino Melaye of PDP who scored 62,133 votes.
Ambassador Rufus Aiyenigba of the Social Democratic Party (SDP) came third in the poll with 659 votes and was trailed by John Olabode and Adeyemi Taiwo of the African Democratic Congress (ADC) and Nigeria Elements Progressive Party (NEPP) who garnered 262 and 119 votes respectively.
The INEC declared the APC candidate as the winner of the keenly contested election two weeks after the people of the senatorial district went to the poll.
Although the results of the poll favoured Senator Adeyemi who polled 80,118 votes as against Senator Melaye’s 59,548 votes, the returning officer had said that he was constrained by law to declare a winner.
He explained that the margin of 20,570 votes between the two candidates was lower than the number of cancelled votes in 53 polling units of the 20 registration.
Following the victory of the APC candidate in the rerun poll and upon receiving the certificate of return, Senator Adeyemi will replace Senator Melaye as the lawmaker representing Kogi West senatorial district in the National Assembly.
INEC’s decision to conduct a fresh election in the senatorial district was in line with the order of the Court of Appeal in Abuja, which dismissed an appeal filed by Senator Melaye challenging the nullification of his victory on February 23 during the general elections.
