By Oluwayanmife Ayobami
The Independent Campaign Council (ICC) of the All Progressives Congress (APC) governorship candidate, Ahmed Usman Ododo, has congratulated him on his victory in Saturday’s election.
In a statement on Monday, the ICC Director of Media, Jacob Edi, described Ododo’s victory as “authoritative” given the number of votes he secured to beat his opponents.
Ododo, who ran with Joel Oyibo as his deputy, was declared winner of the November 11 election by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) after polling 446,237 votes.
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Melaye and Ajaka rejected the result
His closest rival was the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) candidate, Dino Melaye, who scored 259,052 votes while the Social Democratic Party (SDP) candidate, Muritala Ajaka, polled 46,262 votes.
However, both Melaye and Ajaka have rejected the results, alleging widespread irregularities and calling for cancellation of the election or votes in certain areas.
Despite the rejection by the two leading opposition candidates, the APC campaign council has congratulated Ododo for his victory.
It remains to be seen if Melaye and Ajaka will proceed with legal challenges to the outcome of the election as they continue to reject the results.
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Dino Melaye faces mockery as PDP candidate suffers defeat in Kogi election
Meanwhile, in the aftermath of the recent elections in Kogi State, Nigerians took to Twitter to mock Dino Melaye, the prominent politician and PDP gubernatorial candidate.
The election results unveiled a staggering setback for Melaye, as he secured the third position with less than 100,000 votes.
Adding to the humiliation, Melaye lost in his own Local Government Area to the APC gubernatorial candidate, who clinched a decisive victory with a significant margin over the second contender. Melaye, hailing from the Ijumu Local Government Area of Kogi State, garnered 6,909 votes, while the APC’s Usman Ododo secured a resounding 10,524 votes.