APC’s candidate, Ododo, secures victory in the Kogi state election

The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) has completed the final tallying of results from the governor’s race in KOGI State, which took place on Saturday.

With 446,237 votes, the APC candidate defeated his nearest competitors, Dino Melaye of the PDP (46,,362) and Ajaka of the SDP (259,052).

At 10:23 p.m. on Sunday, Ododo was declared the winner by State Returning Officer Prof. Johnson Urama, Deputy Vice-Chancellor (Academics) of the University of Nigeria, Nsukka.

In front of party representatives and election monitors, Urama said, “Ahmed Usman Ododo of the APC, having satisfied the requirement of the law, is hereby declared the winner and is returned elected.”

With 446,237 votes, Ododo defeated his closest opponent, Social Democratic Party (SDP) candidate Murtala Ajaka, who received 259,052 votes; Dino Melaye, a candidate for the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), received 46,362 votes.

When the results from the state’s 21 local government areas (LGAs) were tallied late on Sunday, the APC candidate had won more than half of the LGAs.

The governor, Yahaya Bello, who is finishing his eight-year double term, selected Ododo, a former Auditor General of Local Government in Kogi.

Melaye and a few civil rights organisations alerted the public on Saturday of “filled result sheets” in the North Central State’s Ogori/Magongo Local Government Area. In addition, the PDP candidate demanded that the exercise be stopped due to violence and vote-buying. Following that, nine wards within the local government area had their elections postponed by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC).

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On Sunday night, INEC announced that on November 18, 2023, new elections would be held in 59 polling places within the state’s Ogori/Magongo Local Government Area.

The holding of fresh elections is contingent upon the returning officer’s assessment of the margin of lead principle’s application, according to a condition imposed by INEC. The polls must take place in all 59 polling units.

In his statement made late on Sunday, Urama stated that 16,247 Permanent Voter Cards were registered in all of the impacted polling places. This figure pales in comparison to the over 200,000 votes that the APC candidate received in front of his nearest competitor, Ajaka.

The margin of victory suggested that the elections at the 59 voting places that INEC had originally planned for next Saturday would not take place.

Ajaka and Melaye have both expressed dissatisfaction with the election results and INEC and security services, accusing them of working together with the ruling APC in Kogi.