Denies Receiving Campaign Billions from Atiku, Dangote for Governor Bid
Senator Dino Melaye, the recently unsuccessful Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) candidate for the Kogi State gubernatorial elections, has come out to strongly deny viral speculations that he received financial sponsorship running into billions of naira from two prominent Nigerians – former Vice President Atiku Abubakar and billionaire industrialist, Aliko Dangote.
Addressing supporters during a dinner organized by his campaign team in Abuja on Thursday, Melaye categorically dismissed rumors making the rounds that he was given N1 billion by Atiku Abubakar and N2 billion by Aliko Dangote to fund his ambitions to be elected Kogi governor under the PDP.
Describing the speculation as patently “fake news”, the former federal lawmaker tagged its peddlers as betrayers intent on smearing his governorship bid which was eventually unsuccessful at the polls amidst reports of violence and voter suppression.
Melaye also highlighted what he considered as key lessons learnt from his hotly contested governorship campaign, the first being that no single senatorial zone in Kogi state can independently produce a governor without building alliances across ethnic lines.
He similarly noted that politicians from Kogi West specifically should have heeded wisdom from elderly regional leaders instead of relying on compromised individuals that ended up working against PDP’s interests.
The controversial PDP candidate equally criticized the party hierarchy in Kogi West for failing to unanimously agree on a consensus gubernatorial candidate, stating that fielding multiple aspirants from the zone severely affected their governorship chances.
While thanking supporters and leaders like General Tunde Ogbeha (Rtd) for backing his ambitious shot at Lugard House despite alleged betrayals, Melaye insisted that the November 16 polls cannot qualify as an election by any inch of imagination but was rather a violent process and anti-climax.
Both Captain Idris Wada, Melaye’s campaign DG and immediate past Kogi Governor, and other PDP chieftains in attendance concurred that the party stood a better chance if an alliance between the West and Central zones had pulled through. Melaye was nevertheless applauded for running an issues-based campaign devoid of violence.
The dinner marked the closing chapter for Senator Dino Melaye’s audacious but unsuccessful attempt to move from lawmaking into the Kogi State Government House as an incumbent governor.
Credit: The Nigeria Lawyer