The highly disputed Kogi State Governorship Election of November 11, 2023 has a winner: Ahmed Usman Ododo of the All Progressives Congress (APC).
Ododo defeated rivals Ajaka and Melaye, who received 259,052 and 46,262 votes, respectively, with a total of 446,238 votes, according to the Independent National Electoral Commission’s declaration on Sunday.
When the results from the state’s 21 local government areas (LGAs) were tallied late on Sunday, the APC candidate had won more than half of them.
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With 446,237 votes, Ododo defeated his closest opponent, Social Democratic Party (SDP) candidate Murtala Ajaka, who received 259,052 votes; Dino Melaye, a candidate for the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), received 46,362 votes.
“Ahmed Usman Ododo of APC, having satisfied the requirement of the law is hereby declared the winner and is returned elected,” said Prof. Johnson Urama, Deputy Vice-Chancellor (Academics) of the University of Nigeria, Nsukka, who is the State INEC Returning Officer.
Ododo, a former Auditor General of Local Government in Kogi under Governor Yahaya Bello, was the governor’s choice to end his eight-year double term.
