Just In: Appeal Court Sacks Dino Melaye from Senate

Pat Stevens/

Senator representing Kogi West at the National Assembly, Dino Melaye, has lost his appeal on the tribunal judgment that nullified his election two months ago.

It would be recalled that the Kogi State National Assembly/State Assembly election petition tribunal sitting in Abuja, nullified Melaye’s election in August.

Melaye was declared the winner of the Kogi West Senatorial election by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) during the February 2019 general election.

The results declared by INEC showed that Melaye who contested the election on the platform of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) scored 85,395 votes to defeat Smart Adeyemi of the All Progressives Congress (APC) who polled 66,901 votes.

Adeyemi later approached the Kogi State National Assembly/State Assembly election petition tribunal to challenge Melaye’s victory.

A three-man panel led by Justice A. O. Chijioke in a unanimous judgment accepted Adeyemi’s ground and ordered for reelection into the Kogi West senatorial district.

Displeased with the judgment of Justice Chijioke’s led tribunal, Senator Melaye approached the Appeal Court to appeal the ruling.

The Appeal Court eventually upheld the judgment of the tribunal and ordered a fresh election within 90 days.