In the aftermath of the Kogi governorship election on November 11, where he secured the third position, Melaye voiced his discontent, labeling the process as disgraceful. He pointed fingers at a massive rigging effort that, in his view, unfairly swayed the results against him.
During an appearance on Channels TV's 'Politics Today' on Monday, November 13, 2023, Melaye, the gubernatorial candidate, squarely placed the blame for the challenges in Nigeria's democracy on the shoulders of the INEC boss.
Accusing Yakubu of orchestrating his electoral defeat, Melaye, who garnered 46,362 votes, expressed his dissatisfaction with the electoral process. The ultimate victory went to Usman Ododo of the All Progressives Congress (APC), securing 446,237 votes.
In his statement on the program, Melaye asserted, "There was no election, and I am going to prove it here; there was only an allocation of votes by INEC. The election is shameful, and I sympathize with this country and the citizens of Kogi state. It's a big shame that Mahmood Yakubu and his co-travelers would manifest the kind of satanism that took place in Kogi yesterday."
As a seasoned politician, Melaye claimed to have witnessed various forms of rigging, including result inflation and ballot paper snatching. However, he asserted that the alleged electoral manipulations in Kogi on Saturday surpassed anything he had ever encountered.
"I have never seen this kind of fraud in my life. I've seen rigging, I've seen inflation of results, I’ve seen snatching of ballot papers, but what we saw yesterday is legendary, it’s shameful. Mahmood Yakubu must cancel the election in Kogi state; go and check the backend results. It is disgraceful."
When questioned about obtaining backend results from the INEC server, Melaye, describing himself as a certified private investigator, claimed that his votes were intentionally reduced to ensure he secured the third position in the governorship election.
He asserted that he had submitted a petition with evidence to the electoral body, emphasizing that the commission had been given seven days to review the petition.
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