According to the PDP, its candidate, Hon. Meliga Godwin, confronted INEC officials during the election but was told the Commission lacked security cover to address the irregularities.
The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in Kogi State has rejected the results of the August 16 bye-election conducted in the Okura State Constituency, Dekina Local Government Area, describing the exercise as fraudulent and calling for its outright cancellation.
In a statement signed by its state chairman, Enemona Anyebe, the party alleged that no election was held in over 98% of polling units in the constituency, accusing the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC), security operatives, and officials of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) of colluding to hijack electoral materials.
According to the PDP, its candidate, Hon. Meliga Godwin, confronted INEC officials during the election but was told the Commission lacked security cover to address the irregularities.
Anyebe also noted that the Kogi Resident Electoral Commissioner (REC) admitted being aware of the situation and had contacted the Commissioner of Police, yet INEC went ahead to announce results.
The party questioned the credibility of the figures released by the Commission, noting that while the APC was credited with 8,549 votes in the 2023 general election, it was declared the winner with an outrageous 55,073 votes in the bye-election, despite alleged low voter turnout.
The statement read, “The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Kogi State Chapter, wishes to inform the general public, the media, and the international community that we have formally rejected the so-called bye-election into the vacant Okura State Constituency seat in Dekina Local Government Area, Kogi State, purportedly conducted on 16th August, 2025, and the concocted results announced thereafter by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC).
“We categorically state that no election took place in over 98% of the polling units across Okura Constituency. Instead, in the early hours of election day, APC government officials, aided by security personnel and armed thugs, hijacked electoral materials in the company of INEC officials and moved them to unknown destinations. This criminal act completely disenfranchised the good people of Okura Constituency.
“Our candidate, Hon. Meliga Godwin, confronted INEC officials in the field and was told that the Commission ‘had no security of its own’ to address the situation.
“In addition, when our candidate personally called the Kogi State Resident Electoral Commissioner (REC), the REC admitted that he was aware of the incident, stated that he had contacted the Commissioner of Police, and assured that the matter would be resolved. Shockingly, despite this open admission of irregularities, INEC still went ahead to announce fraudulent results.
“We ask a simple question: where did INEC and APC manufacture the so-called results from? In the 2023 general election for the same constituency, the APC was declared to have scored 8,549 votes, while the PDP was allotted 1,487 votes—a result we rejected as manipulated but still within a range of plausibility. However, in this 2025 bye-election, INEC declared an outrageous figure of 55,073 votes for the APC and 1,038 votes for the PDP.
“How could such astronomical numbers suddenly appear in a constituency where no voting took place in 98% of polling units? This statistical impossibility exposes the scale of manipulation and fraud that took place.”
Anyebe explained that what is even more baffling is the fact that the REC himself, speaking live on AIT News on election day, admitted that there was a low turnout of voters.
He said that if indeed there was low turnout, how then did INEC accept and announce figures that are six times higher than those of the 2023 general elections?
This contradiction alone, he argued, is enough to nullify the entire process.
“Accordingly, the PDP rejects in its entirety the purported results announced by INEC in respect of the Okura bye-election,” the party said.
It called for the “immediate cancellation of this fraudulent exercise” and demanded the “conduct of a fresh, credible, free, and fair election in strict compliance with the Constitution and the Electoral Act”.
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