Dino Melaye Defends His Victory in Kogi PDP Guber Primary Election

•Promises to boost state IGR, support SMEs if elected

Emma Okonji and Nosa Alekhuogie

The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) governorship candidate in the November 2023 election for Kogi State, Dino Melaye, has clarified the controversy trailing his emergence as the party’s candidate.

Melaye stressed that there was no manipulation in the primary election, arguing that the primary election was the fairest and most transparent he had seen anywhere.

Melaye said this on ARISE NEWS Channel, the broadcast arm of THISDAY News.

He assured the people of Kogi State of increased Internally Generated Revenue (IGR), increased support for Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) and also a boost in employment, if elected as the next governor of the state.

According to him, there was need to rescue the people of Kogi State from the present maladministration, insecurity, corruption and negative vices.

Reacting to the statement of the governor of Rivers State, Nyesom Wike, who had criticised his emergence as the winner in the party’s primary election, Melaye said he had no response to give to a man who was suffering from post-election trauma.

Melaye added that regardless of the governor’s support in 2019, he owes the party a lot.

He further said he was being witch-hunted by Wike because he refused to support his 2023 presidential ambition.

Speaking about his plans and what he would do differently if voted as the next governor of the state, Melaye said: “There are no plans to be dependent on the federal allocation that comes from Abuja, neither am I going to be an Abuja-based governor like the present governor.

“I am going to live in Kogi State and hold monthly meetings with key stakeholders across every local government of the state.”

Melaye also promised to be a people’s governor by allowing people determine the policy implementation and direction.

He also talked about revolutionising the education sector in the state and revealed that the state education curriculum would be changed across schools in the state.

The PDP governorship candidate also noted that the foundation of education in the country was faulty, adding that he would begin to initiate changes in school curriculum from Kogi State if elected as governor of the state.

Concerning the issues of Internally Generated Revenue (IGR) and unemployment in Kogi State, he said he would boost the state’s IGR and concentrate on small and medium scale enterprises (SMEs) for women.

“We are going to make sure we get funds from donor agencies across the globe, NGOs all over the world to make sure we partner with international donor agencies to ensure we increase SMEs in Kogi State.

“We are going to access these opportunities because many governors and local governments do not know that these funds are available to be accessed,” he said.

Speaking further on the politics of zoning, Melaye said it would be fair that the governorship should naturally be zoned to Kogi West as they have never been given an opportunity to produce the Governor of the state like Kogi East that have had the seat for sixteen years and Kogi Central that have had it for eight years.

He added that this was one of the reasons he decided to run for the office of the governor of the state.

Melaye therefore urged Kogi people to support Kogi West in producing the next governor for peace, inclusivity and equity.