Godwin Tsa, Abuja

The National Assembly and State Assembly Election Petitions Tribunal sitting in Lokoja on Friday sacked Senator Dino Melaye as the Senator for Kogi West.

In its judgment, the tribunal ordered that fresh elections should be held in the senatorial district.

But reacting to the judgment, Senator appealed to his supporters to remain calm saying, “no cause for alarm.”
Senator Dino who has his eyes on the governorship position of the state, said even if the ruling was in his favour, it would have been appealed.
He insisted that there would be fresh senatorial election in the district and that he would be the next governor.
“No cause for alarm at all. Even if it went my way, they will still go to the Appeal Court. Our mandate can not be taken. We will get judgment at the Appeal Court. There will be fresh election in Kogi West because I will be governor. For my Senate mandate no shaking.
He who laughs last, laughs the best.”

In a statement, he said his legal team was already studying the judgement, adding that he would appeal it.

He said he was confident that the Appeal Court would upturn the judgement of the lower tribunal.

According to him, the judgement was full of importation of information that were alien to the case.

Melaye said: “I, however, commend the courage and moral strength of the chairman of the tribunal for resisting evil and standing on the part of justice.

“I have confidence in the Appeal Court to right the wrongs as contained in the pronouncements of the judgment

“I also want to tell those jubilating that their jubilation will be short-lived while appealing to my teeming supporters to remain calm as their mandate is safe and secure and cannot be taken through any mischievous means.

“However, our legal team is already working on appealing the judgment and I assure all that justice will prevail.”

Senator Melaye was declared winner of the February 23 election by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) on the platform of the People’s Democratic Party (PDP).
However, dissatisfied with the outcome of the election, his challenger from the All Progressives Congress (APC), Senator Smart Adeyemi asked the tribunal to nullify the election on the grounds of alleged malpractices and other electoral irregularities.
In its unanimous judgment on Friday, the three-man panel of justices annulled Dino’s election and ordered a fresh election to be conducted in the affected district.