Senator Dino Melaye was on Tuesday evening defeated by his political rival, Honourable Tajudeen Yusuf, who polled 163 votes to clinch the ticket of the Peoples’ Democratic Party, PDP, for Kogi West Senatorial district.
Dino failed to secure his reelection bid when he polled 99 votes against TJ Yusuf who is currently representing Kabba/Bunu Ijumu Federal constituency.
TJ Yusuf, a three-term House of Representatives member, had levelled with Dino on Monday night when they both scored 88 votes apiece; leading to a rerun.
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But at the rerun on Tuesday, TJ was able to secure a majority of the votes.
While TJ was rooting for Nyesom Wike in the state, Dino Melaye was backing Atiku Abubakar, turning the game into a royal rumble of two influential presidential candidates of the party.
TJ however was able to draw sympathy from the camp of the former governor Ibrahim Idris whose favourite candidate, Sam Aro, polled 72 votes on the first run of the senate primary on Monday.
In his reaction, Dino Melaye took to his Twitter handle to congratulate his opponent, while blaming his defeat on what he described as an “unimaginable gang up”.