Dino Melaye speaks on receiving billions from Atiku, Dangote [DETAILS]
Senator Dino Melaye, governorship candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in the last election in Kogi State, has reacted to rumours that he received the sum of N3 billion from Atiku Abubakar and billionaire businessman, Aliko Dangote.
Speaking at a dinner organised in his honour by members of his campaign organisation in Abuja, Melaye denied the report and described it as fake news.
The former Kogi-West senator said that the speculation was the handiwork of his detractors and mischief makers.
Melaye while denying the speculation that he collected N1 billion from Atiku and N 2billion from Dangote as “fake news” peddled by “betrayers”.
The former federal lawmaker also enumerated three basic lessons he learnt from contesting the election.
“One of the lessons is that the east now know more than ever before, that they cannot become governor alone. You will have to collaborate with another zones to become governor,” Melaye said.
“The second lesson is also for those of us from the west. That next time we should listen to the words of wisdom from our elders and not from commercialized characters who because of their individual and selfish interests created problems for us.
“Because at the end of the day, what our elders have been saying that this will be the worse (election) for us is eventually what happened.”
Melaye stressed that unity was required within the PDP family in the state especially in Kogi West in order for the party to win any election.
He declared that it was against the political interest of the party for Kogi West or any Zone in the state for that matter to field more than one candidate in such a critical election.
“We went through these elections, irrespective of the outcome, irrespective of betrayals, and so many things, there’s a reason to thank God and thank everyone of you, particularly our leaders and i specially appreciate General Tunde Ogbeha(Retd),” he said.
”Throughout the campaign, not once did we have any gunshot at us; not even once, we we’re moving around the states throughout dead nights.
“In fact, we even went to Bassa. We were driving through that very lonely road on unholy hours of the nights. We got to Anyigba at about hours like 12 midnight or 1am and the kind of stories of gunshots, there were no case or cases of gun shots at us or the kind of killings like what we were told when the SDP visited any other place in the east. We didn’t experience any of such we didn’t lose any soul. This, we are grateful to God.”
Melaye further claimed that “there was no governorship election in Kogi State”.