Dino: Late Governorship aspirant Obadofin, other dead men signed my recall

Sen. Dino Melaye, representing Kogi West
Senatorial district in the National Assembly has
said that Late Governorship aspirant Chief
Rotimi Obadofin and other dead men
appended their signatures to influence his recall.
Addressing newsmen on Sunday in Lokoja,
Melaye who said investigations had revealed
that even the dead signed the recall across the
seven area councils of the senatorial district,
described the process as fraudulent.
Speaking through one of his legislative aides,
Malam Abubakar Sadiq, the embattled senator
said names and signatures of dead constituents
were on the list.
According to him, the name of a former
governorship aspirant of the All Progressive
Congress (APC) in the state, late Chief Rotimi
Obadofin precisely from Iya-Gbede axis was on
the list.
“Let me also sound authoritatively that here in
Lokoja Local Government Council, several others
whose names and signatures appeared on the
list of the signatories to this failed exercise were
identified and known to us as being dead long
before now.
“Such people like late Abdullahi Abubakar, his
immediate younger sister late Halima Lawal
Abubakar and Ibrahim Adama of Unit Code 021,
Adankolo Ring Road in Ward ‘A’, Lokoja Local
Government Council.
Also one late Salihu Black of Gegu-Beki town,
Kogi Local Government Council who until his
death was a biology teacher in Government
Secondary School, Koton-Karfe, also appended
his signature on the recall list.
“This recall exercise was hatched in Kogi
Government House due to the manner in which
Senator Dino Melaye consistently challenges and
engages the government over non-payment of
workers’ salaries and pensioners for over 15
months; and also the constant closure of tertiary
institutions,” he stated.
Senator Melaye also alleged that they claimed to
have gotten over 188,000 signatories of
electorates in Kogi West when the total vote
cast, both valid and rejected, in the last
senatorial election of 2015, was merely 111, 000
for all the candidates that participated.
In a swift reaction, Gov. Yahaya Bello of Kogi
said Senator Dino Melaye should stop worrying
about INEC.
Bello, who spoke through his chief Press
Secretary, Mrs Petra Onyegbule, said facts about
the constituents were with INEC which had the
responsibility of verifying the signatures.
“There is nothing for the distinguished senator
to be worried about. INEC has set July 3, for the
public verification of signatures and the date is
around the corner; there is no point burning
their energies all over the place”, Onyegbule
said
On the alleged collation of signatures in
Government House, the spokesperson said it
was absolutely false as no single signature was
collated in Government House.