The Deputy Governorship candidate in the 2015 elections in Kogi State and member representing Ikeja Federal Constituency, Hon. James Abiodun Faleke, has described the fallout of the verification exercise conducted on Saturday in Kogi West to recall Senator Dino Melaye as a pointer to the fact that Governor Yahaya Bello is unpopular in the state.
In separate tweets through his handle @JAFaleke, he said the ultimate loser in the failed recall exercise is the All Progressives Congress (APC).
He asserted that “until those who worked so hard to win election for the party in Kogi are given due recognition, Governor Yahaya Bello will continue to struggle politically without results.”
Mocking Bello, Faleke said Dino Melaye defeated the governor despite being in police detention.
“The recall project has failed. The people won. The outcome today is not just about Dino but the open rejection of the Yahaha Bello led state government.
“Even in detention, @dino_melaye defeated them. Clear sign that Yahaha Bello is very unpopular in Kogi state”.
The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) had on Saturday, conducted a verification exercise in 552 out of the 560 polling units in the seven local government areas that make up Kogi West.
Despite the fact that Melaye was being admitted at the intensive care unit of the National Hospital and also placed on arrest by the Nigerian Police; the exercise in Kogi West was said to have witnessed a low turnout.
Aside the apathy that marred the exercise, officials of INEC were also said to have witnessed protests from electorate in some council areas, who said they were surprised to find their names and purported signatures on the said recall register.
As at the close of the exercise on Saturday, no polling unit was said to have recorded 50 per cent verified signatures of the total names on the register.
