Wale Ibrahim, Lokoja
The Kogi West Senatorial election has come and gone. The winner and loser emerged but the scars left by its outcome will remain evergreen in the memory of the people of Kogi State.
Aside from the alleged violence that trailed the November 16 governorship election in the state, which returned Yahaya Bello to Lugard House, how Senator Dino Melaye lost his Senatorial seat has arguably become the most talked about issue throughout the country.
With his flamboyant lifestyle, Melaye could be described as a very popular politician. He portrayed himself as a man fighting for the impoverished masses of the country. And with such huge mass appeal, nobody expected that he would lose his senatorial seat to his opponent, Smart Adeyemi, who was himself a two-time senator.
Observers are of the opinion that the contest for the Kogi West Senatorial seat was axiomatic of Nigeria’s political situation. It is an affirmation that political parties in the country are one and the same. There is indeed little difference between the parties, as they only serve as the vehicle through which politicians win their election. You defect from one today, the next election circle; you’re winning election on the platform of the same party you had left.
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Adeyemi became a senator in 2007 on the platform of the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP. He contested the same position in 2011, again on the platform of the PDP.
In 2015, he contested again, but, by this time, he had Melaye to contend with. Melaye, who was himself in the PDP, having been in the House of Representatives on the platform of the party, had defected to the then opposition All Progressives Congress, APC.
Joining the new political party with the change mantra, Melaye had the upper hand and defeated Adeyemi, as the Buhari tsunami swept away many politicians at that time. Although Adeyemi approached the election petition tribunal to reclaim his alleged stolen mandate, Melaye went away with victory both at the tribunal and the Appeal Court level.
The duo rekindled their political rivalry, as they contested for the same senatorial seat in the 2019 National Assembly election. Melaye was declared the winner by the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC.
With the victory, Melaye became the only one out of the 15 APC senators, who defected to the PDP prior to the 2019 general elections to have won his seat back.
That feat catapulted him to an invincible position, more so, when some of his colleagues, who fell by the way side included then Senate President, Bukola Saraki, and other popular senators like Suleiman Hunkuyi (Kaduna), Barnabas Gemade (Benue), Rabiu Kwankwaso (Kano), Usman Nafada (Gombe), Isah Misau (Bauchi), among others.
But the victory did not last, as Adeyemi challenged his opponent’s victory.
And as fate would have it this time, the election petition tribunal annulled the election and the annulment was affirmed by the Court of Appeal. Another poll was subsequently ordered, which date fell on the same date the governorship election was to hold.
However, the November 16th senatorial election was declared inconclusive and a supplementary election was ordered by INEC.
The Returning Officer, Prof. Olaide Lawal of the Federal University, Oye Ekiti, Ekiti State, stated that no clear winner emerged at the end of that exercise, noting that the lead margin was not up to the number where election was cancelled, as Senator Adeyemi got 80,118 and Melaye secured 59,548.
Rerun election was scheduled for November 30 in 53 polling units where election was cancelled and while declaring the final result of the rerun poll, Prof Lawal stated that Adeyemi polled 88,373 votes to defeat Melaye, who scored 62,133 votes.
Questions have been asked as to what led to Melaye’s defeat. It would be recalled that he once boasted that Adeyemi had become his political wife, as he had found a way of beating him soundly in any political contest.
But, unknown to many, political observers in the state knew that the senator might be on his way out of the Upper Chamber, as a result of the political permutations in the state.
Aside from the pockets of violence, the senator was also fighting against many forces.
Between 2015 and 2019, Melaye engaged himself in a battle of wit with both Kogi and the Federal governments. He became a torn, not only in the flesh of Bello, but he was also lambasting President Muhammadu Buhari on the floor of the senate.
Melaye was once a political ally of Governor Bello, but became estranged from him. This led to a bitter feud; even to the extent of saying he was better in bed than the governor.
Indeed, attempt was once made by the governor to recall him. The recall process was actually launched in 2018, through INEC. But on the day of the recall exercise, the electorate stood by Melaye, as low turnout marred the exercise. The mandatory constitutional requirement of 50 percent and above to send the senator packing from the National Assembly was not met. Only about 5% of the electorate came out on the day, further cementing the popularity of the senator against the governor.
While the feud with Bello lasted, Melaye was enjoying the people’s goodwill and support because of the alleged non performance by the governor, especially the huge salaries owed workers in the state.
Melaye’s call on the governor to pay workers’ salaries earned him more accolades and support from the down trodden masses within and outside the state.
Apart from not being in the good book of the state government, Melaye was said to have stepped on many toes, who had promised to deal with him politically.
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Melaye, it was gathered hung on the sharp division within the APC in the state to win his reelection, but when the party became united to win first the presidential, National and state assembly elections and then the governorship election, the embattled senator became a lone ranger.
Political observers also noted that Melaye’s first tenure as a senator was so controversial that he attracted many enemies to himself.
At another level, sources hinted that all those who worked for him during the National Assembly election were no longer fighting for his cause again and when it mattered most during the rerun and supplementary elections, the people turned their back on him.
It was also argued that holding the senatorial and the governorship elections the same day was the greatest undoing for the senator.
