Kogi Election: Usman Ododo of APC Emerges as Governor

Usman Ododo of the APC has emerged as the new governor of Kogi State, according to the official announcement by INEC. Ododo secured 446,237 votes, leaving behind his closest challenger, Murtala Ajaka of the SDP, who got 259,052 votes. Dino Melaye of the PDP came in third with 46,362 votes.

The Deputy Vice-Chancellor (Academics) of the University of Nigeria, Nsukka, Prof. Johnson Urama, who served as the State Returning Officer, declared Ododo the winner at 10:23 p.m. on Sunday. He said that Ododo met the requirements of the law and was duly elected.

Ododo, who was the former Auditor General of Local Government in Kogi under Governor Yahaya Bello, enjoyed the support of the outgoing governor, who completed his second term of eight years. Ododo won in more than half of the 21 LGAs in the state.

The election was marred by allegations of violence and vote-buying by the PDP and some civil rights groups. They claimed that the APC thugs and SWAT police prevented the PDP supporters from voting in the Ogori/Magongo LGA. They also accused INEC of using “filled result sheets” in the area. INEC suspended the election in nine wards in the LGA and scheduled a fresh poll in 59 polling units on November 18, 2023.

However, INEC said that the fresh poll would depend on the application of the margin of lead principle by the returning officer. The principle means that the number of registered voters in the affected polling units must be higher than the margin of victory between the leading candidate and the runner-up. In this case, the margin of lead was about 200,000 votes, while the number of registered voters in the 59 polling units was 16,247. This implied that the fresh poll would not make any difference to the outcome of the election.

Both Ajaka and Melaye have rejected the result of the election, saying that INEC and the security agencies colluded with the APC to rig the election in favour of Ododo.