The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) gubernatorial candidate in the just concluded Kogi State gubernatorial election, Senator Dino Malaye, has denied rumors that he raised N3 billion from former Vice President Atiku Abubakar and the Chairman of the Group Dangote, Aliko Dangote, for the elections.
The former Senator stated this at a dinner organized in his honor by members of his campaign organization in Abuja.
He said that these speculations were the work of his critics who were intent on detailing his campaign.
Melaye described speculation that he collected 1 billion naira from Atiku and 2 billion naira from Dangote as “fake news” peddled by “traitors.”
The former federal legislator also listed three basic lessons he learned from participating in the elections.
Melaye said, “One of the lessons is that the east knows now more than ever that it cannot be governor alone. You have to cooperate with other regions to become governor.
“The second lesson is also for those of us who come from the West.
That next time we listen to the words of wisdom from our elders and not from commercialized characters who, due to their individual and selfish interests, created problems for us.
“Because at the end of the day, (the election) that our elders said would be worse for us finally happened.”
The PDP governorship aspirant also explained that unity is needed within the PDP family in the state, especially in Kogi West, for the party to win any election.
He said it was against the political interest of the party in Kogi West or any other zone of the state to field more than one candidate in such a crucial election. Melaye continued to say, “…We went through these elections, regardless of the results, regardless of betrayal, and many things, there is a reason to thank God and thank each one of you, especially our leaders and I congratulate General Tunde Ogbeha (Retired).
“During the entire campaign, not once was a shot fired at us. Not once, we were roaming the states overnight. “Actually, we even went to Basa.
We were walking on that very lonely road at unholy hours of the night.
We got to Anyigba at about hours like12 midnight or 1a:m and the kind of stories of gunshots, there were no case or cases of gun shots at us or the kind of killings like what we were told when the SDP visited any other place in the east.
We have not experienced anything like this, we have not lost a soul. Here we are thanking God.”
He explained that November 11 was an anti-climax because there was no election, but there was a process.
“…But when proper elections are conducted, elections that do not follow democratic principles and doctrines are not respected.
He urged his campaign directors not to despair. “It won’t happen like this,” he said.
Again, if people believe in us, things won’t be the way they are. Especially those of us from the western flank.
There was this false statement that some Western leaders said that one of my leaders said I wanted to create confusion.
“Yet some leaders insisted and said this is what they were going to do.
Everyone is given breakfast, I want to believe that by God’s grace we have learned a lot from this election. “We gave Kogi the type of campaign they have never seen.
It’s the truth. We had a sophisticated campaign.
We had a policy document that took about three months to prepare, we got the message and reviewed it.
“And by the grace of God We cannot say that we lost because there were no elections. When we do the counting, the money that we spent in this election has never been spent by the PDP in the history of Kogi State and we know that, I mean, we know that.
“So, we don’t need to be disappointed, don’t need to be discouraged, don’t need to be discouraged. It is up to us to stick together as a political family.
“And say, we’re what we lost in the streets, we’ll regain at the roundabout. And this election also taught many lessons.”
In his remarks, former governor of the state, Captain Idris Wada, who was the Director General of the campaign commended the PDP candidate for his candid assessment of the campaign and events during the elections.
He explained that if there had been an alliance between the Western and Eastern senatorial zones, the PDP would have easily won the elections. Wada commended Senator Melaye for running a good campaign throughout the electoral process.
Crime Channel
