Engr. Musa Wada has emerged the flagbearer of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) for the November 16 governorship election in Kogi State. Chairman of the electoral committee for the governorship primary election, Governor Ahmadu Fintiri of Adamawa State, who declared the results, yesterday in Lokoja, said Engr Wada polled 748 votes to defeat his closest opponent, Abubakar Mohammed Ibrahim, who polled 710 votes.
According to the results, former Governor Idris Wada got 345 votes to emerge third, while Senator Dino Melaye polled 70 votes to come fourth.
He said Abubakar Aminu Suleiman got 55 votes; Dr Victor Adoji 54 votes, while Joseph Ameh Erico got 43 votes.
Other results declared indicated that AVM Salihu Attawodi scored 11 votes; Emmanuel Omebije nine votes; Mohammed Shaibu four votes; Bayo Michael and Kabiru Haruna two votes each while Grace Adejoh got zero vote. Fintiri said a total of 3,388 voters were accredited for the election while 59 votes were invalid. He said the primary election was conducted in a transparent, free and fair manner.
He, however, confirmed that the exercise was disrupted following sporadic shootings in the early hours of Wednesday while sorting was ongoing. He added that they were however able to recover a total of 2,109 of the votes cast while 247 were missing following the incident.
He said after deliberations with the aspirants, agents and other key party stakeholders, following the incident, it was agreed that declaration should be made since the outcome of the exercise meets “substantial compliance” rule. Fintiri, however, said that aspirants that were not satisfied with the decision could take their cases to the party’s appeal committee in Abuja for redress.
He advised all the aspirants that did not emerge victorious this time around to put the interest of the PDP uppermost by ensuring that they rallied round the flagbearer to enable the party win the November 16 election. Reacting, the party’s flag bearer, Engr Musa Wada, described his victory as a long awaited dream come true.
He expressed his readiness to reconcile with those that were aggrieved with the outcome of the exercise to enable the party win in the forthcoming election. Engr. Wada urged the ruling party not to introduce violence in the forthcoming election, warning that “nobody has the monopoly of violence”.
Also reacting, Abubakar Mohammed Ibrahim who came second, said he would approach the party’s appeal committee for redress in view of the missing 247 votes which he noted could have swung the winning pendulum to his side or the other way round. For his part, agent of Senator Melaye, Femi Obalemo, expressed dissatisfaction with the outcome of the exercise, saying they will approach the party’s appeal committee for redress.
“We are going to appeal. This is not an election. It is totally rejected”, he said.