Don’t set Kogi on fire, APC warns Ajaka, Melaye

The All Progressives Congress (APC), on Thursday, sent a note of warning to Dino Melaye and Murtala Ajaka.

The ruling party warned against comments that could set the state on fire following their loss in the November 11 election election.

Both men were the governorship candidates of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and the Social Democratic Party (SDP) in the election in Kogi State,

The National Publicity Secretary of the APC, Felix Morka gave the warning while addressing journalists at the party’s national secretariat in Abuja.

He urged the opposition candidates to borrow a leaf from the APC loss in Bayelsa State by imbibing the spirit of sportsmanship and accepting the result.

Ripples Nigeria recalls that the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) declared APC’s candidate, Usman Ododo, the winner, after polling 446,237 votes to defeat the SDP candidate, Ajaka, and Melaye of the PDP, who scored 259,052 and 46,362 votes, respectively.

Read also: Gumi claims Kaduna bombing not a mistake, targeted at families of ‘some people’

Dino and Ajaka, however, rejected the result.

Morka, who was accompanied by the Deputy National Publicity Secretary of the party, Duro Meseko, also appealed to the aggrieved politicians to seek legal redress if they are still convinced they won the poll instead of attempting to cause unrest in the state.

He said: “We are concerned about the post-election events and how Kogi has been bedevilled by violence. You can’t set Kogi on fire because you lost an election. Dino Melaye has refused to challenge the result in court. Melaye did not even have the confidence to vote for himself in the election. Dino should know that participating in and boycotting election is a democratic right. He should choose wisely. But he cannot stop our democratic train from heading to its destination.

“Let me also say a few things about my former colleague and SDP candidate, Murtala Ajaka, who also refused to challenge the election. But in a sudden U-turn, he seemed to have changed his mind and was now planning to send a petition. Are we happy that we lost the Bayelsa election? No, we are not. But we have not resorted to any form of underhanded or undemocratic efforts to try to gain back what we lost in Bayelsa, and the state has continued to live in relative peace.

“We are concerned that, as we speak, the SDP and the PDP have engaged in incendiary statements aimed at causing unrest in Kogi State and have put the totality of that blame on our party. We reject this as a political party. In Delta, our candidate, Senator Ovie Omo-Agege, was not announced as the winner, but he has challenged the result in court.

“The APC has enormous respect for the judiciary and the role it plays in democracy. We will leave law enforcement agents to investigate.

“The people of Kogi State deserve their peace. We have condemned the recent attack on INEC REC and the secretary, and we are happy the police are looking into the case. We will also implore them, as we did after the NWC meeting last week, to properly investigate the attacks and douse tension in Kogi.

“There is no flawless election anywhere in the world. We also called on opposition parties in Kogi to chase their cases in court and allow the police to do their job. You cannot win by intimidating the judiciary and court justices.”

Join the conversation

Opinions

Support Ripples Nigeria, hold up solutions journalism

Balanced, fearless journalism driven by data comes at huge financial costs.

As a media platform, we hold leadership accountable and will not trade the right to press freedom and free speech for a piece of cake.

If you like what we do, and are ready to uphold solutions journalism, kindly donate to the Ripples Nigeria cause.

Your support would help to ensure that citizens and institutions continue to have free access to credible and reliable information for societal development.

Donate Now