Melaye, Adeyemi in ‘epic’ showdown as INEC fixes Nov 30 for Kogi West rerun

The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) has fixed November 30 for the conduct of supplementary and re-run elections for Kogi West Senatorial District and Ajaokuta Federal Constituency respectively.

In a statement, Mr Festus Okoye, INEC National Commissioner and Chairman, Information and Voter Education Committee, said the decision was taken at a meeting held on Thursday in Abuja.

He recalled that at the conclusion of the court-ordered Kogi West Senatorial re-run election on Saturday, supplementary polls were indicated by the Collation/Retuming Officer for the Senatorial District.

The affected areas includes 20 Registration Areas, 53 Polling Units and 46,767 Registered Voters spread across seven Local Government Areas of the Senatorial District.

“In addition, the court ordered the conduct of Supplementary re-run poll in Ajaokuta Federal Constituency affecting 22 Polling Units.”

Okoye said that collation procedures shall be in line with extant Guidelines for Collation at the Supplementary polls.

He added that the list of affected registration areas and polling units would be uploaded on INEC website and communicated to the stakeholders in the respective registration areas and polling pnits.

“We enjoin all the political parties and stakeholders to cooperate with the commission for conclusive free and credible elections in the affected areas,” Okoye said.

INEC declared Saturday’s senatorial re-run election for Kogi West inconclusive because the margin of win was less than the total cancelled votes.

INEC Returning Officer for the election, Prof. Olayide Lawal, said the candidate of the APC, Smart Adeyemi, polled 80,118 votes while Dino Melaye of the PDP got 59,548.
Lawal, however, said that votes were cancelled across 53 polling units in the senatorial district with 46,127 registered voters due to violence and snatching of ballot boxes.