Senator Dino Melaye, representing Kogi West Senatorial district in the
\nNational Assembly says the signatures allegedly collected to influence his
\nrecall and forwarded to INEC were forged.<\/p>\n
Addressing newsmen on Sunday in Lokoja, Melaye who said investigations had
\nrevealed that even the dead signed the recall across the seven area
\ncouncils of the senatorial district, described the process as fraudulent.<\/p>\n
Speaking through one of his legislative aides, Malam Abubakar Sadiq, the
\nembattled senator said names and signatures of dead constituents were on
\nthe list.<\/p>\n
According to him, the name of a former governorship aspirant of the All
\nProgressive Congress (APC) in the state, late Chief Rotimi Obadofin
\nprecisely from Iya-Gbede axis was on the list.<\/p>\n
\u201cLet me also sound authoritatively that here in Lokoja Local Government
\nCouncil, several others whose names and signatures appeared on the list of
\nthe signatories to this failed exercise were identified and known to us as
\nbeing dead long before now.<\/p>\n
\u201cSuch people like late Abdullahi Abubakar, his immediate younger sister
\nlate Halima Lawal Abubakar and Ibrahim Adama of Unit Code 021, Adankolo
\nRing Road in Ward \u2018A\u2019, Lokoja Local Government Council.<\/p>\n
Also one late Salihu Black of Gegu-Beki town, Kogi Local Government
\nCouncil who until his death was a biology teacher in Government Secondary
\nSchool, Koton-Karfe, also appended his signature on the recall list.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis recall exercise was hatched in Kogi Government House due to the
\nmanner in which Senator Dino Melaye consistently challenges and engages
\nthe government over non-payment of workers\u2019 salaries and pensioners for
\nover 15 months; and also the constant closure of tertiary institutions ,\u201d
\nhe stated.<\/p>\n
Senator Melaye also alleged that they claimed to have gotten over 188,000
\nsignatories of electorates in Kogi West when the total vote cast, both
\nvalid and rejected, in the last senatorial election of 2015, was merely
\n111, 000 for all the candidates that participated.<\/p>\n
In a swift reaction, Gov. Yahaya Bello of Kogi said Senator Dino Melaye
\nshould stop worrying about INEC.<\/p>\n
Bello, who spoke through his chief Press Secretary, Mrs Petra Onyegbule,
\nsaid facts about the constituents were with INEC which had the
\nresponsibility of verifying the signatures.<\/p>\n
\u201cThere is nothing for the distinguished senator to be worried about. INEC Senator Dino Melaye, representing Kogi West Senatorial district in the National Assembly says the signatures allegedly collected to influence his recall and forwarded to INEC were forged. Addressing newsmen on…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":52848,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_lmt_disableupdate":"","_lmt_disable":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[17],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-58257","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-exclusive"],"yoast_head":"\n
\nhas set July 3<\/span><\/span>, for the public verification of signatures and the date is
\naround the corner; there is no point burning their energies all over the
\nplace\u201d, Onyegbule said<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"