Former Kogi West Senator, Dino Melaye has won the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, governorship primaries in Kogi State.

Dino was declared winner by the returning officer on Sunday.

He scored 313 votes to defeat Idoko Ilonah who had 124 votes.

Others, Awoniyi Sunday had 77 votes while Musa Wada had 56 votes.

The former lawmaker will be up against Usman Ododo, the flagbearer of the All Progressives Congress (APC) for the election.

On the other hand, Mr Dino’s biggest rival, Smart Adeyemi, senator representing Kogi west, has faulted the primary election of the All Progressives Congress (APC) which produced a governorship candidate for the party.

On Friday, Patrick Obahiagbon, secretary of the Kogi APC primary election committee, announced Ahmed Ododo, a former local government auditor-general in Kogi state, as the winner of the governorship primary.

Ododo scored 78, 704 votes to beat six other contestants including Adeyemi who came seventh with 311 votes.

The governorship candidate is believed to be the preferred candidate of Yahaya Bello, governor of the state.

Faulting the conduct of the election during a news conference in Abuja on Saturday, Adeyemi said results were already prepared before the election.

“We witnessed a new phenomenon of electoral malpractices and embedded corruption in the electoral process of our country,” he said.

“I have heard of riggings of elections but I have not heard of the new phenomenon which we must do all we can to stop in this country.

“The governorship primary election was scheduled for yesterday (Friday). As expected, all of us were in our various wards.

“What we heard was that election result was already announced. Results were prepared, even before the commencement of voting.

“Announcements were made and I was taken aback. This is the worst malpractice; the worst form of rigging and unprecedented in the history of Nigeria.

“If there was an election and it was rigged, we will know it was rigged, but where there was no election at all, and for someone to have the audacity to write result and went ahead to announce it.”

The senator added that the national secretariat of the APC and the resident electoral commissioner (REC) in Kogi must be prepared and explain to Nigerians, whether or not elections held in the state.

“The primary election was not conducted. All of us mobilised our members. Behold non of the officials of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) nor even the panel that was to conduct the election was there,” he said.

“The chairman of that panel, the Gov. of Zamfara, Bello Matawalle, was the one that by the constitution of the APC, was to announce the result.

“He came, we saw him, but Matawalle was not happy with the way and manner, so he left,” Adeyemi said.

“By the constitution of APC, if the chairman of the panel fails to announce the result, the secretariat is supposed to send another chairman, not the secretary announcing the result.

“There is a guideline, but the secretary went ahead, and announced the result.

“The primary election in Kogi was just allocation of votes.”

Meanwhile, a former Kogi State Deputy Governor, Yomi Awoniyi has faulted the PDP primary election that produced Dino Melaye as governorship candidate.

Awoniyi warned that Melaye’s emergence as PDP governorship candidate was dangerous.

Stressing that the primary election lacked credibility, Awoniyi claimed that Melaye’s votes were a product of a tainted delegates’ list.

A statement by Awoniyi 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.”

Awoniyi argued that it was unfair to give an aspirant 158 votes in a contest for 739 votes with eight other aspirants.