JUST IN: Appeal Court sacks Dino Melaye, orders fresh election

Sen. Dino Melaye, representing Kogi West at the Nigerian Senate, has lost his appeal on the tribunal judgment that sacked him as a senator two months ago.

It would be recalled that the Kogi State National Assembly/State Assembly election petition tribunal sitting in Abuja, nullified Melaye’s election in August.

Melaye was declared the winner of the Kogi West Senatorial election by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) during the February 2019 general election.

The results declared by INEC showed that Melaye who contested the election on the platform of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) scored 85,395 votes to defeat Smart Adeyemi of the All Progressives Congress (APC) who polled 66,901 votes.

Adeyemi later approached the tribunal to challenge Melaye’s victory and was declared winner on Friday.

A three-man panel led by Justice A. O. Chijioke in a unanimous judgment accepted Adeyemi’s ground and ordered for reelection into the Kogi West senatorial district.

Displeased with the judgment of Justice Chijioke’s led tribunal, Senator Melaye approached the Appeal Court to appeal the ruling.

The Appeal Court eventually upheld the judgment of the tribunal and ordered a fresh election within 90 days.