Former Nigerian Senator, Dino Melaye has emerged as the winner of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) ticket for the Kogi State Governorship Election which will take place on November 11, 2023. Melaye defeated his closest rival, Jabiru Usman, with 313 votes while Usman polled 127 votes in an indirect primary held in Lokoja, the Kogi State capital on Sunday. 

The chairman of the PDP primary Election Committee, Ahmed Makarfi, announced the results. Other candidates in the primary election included a former Deputy Governor, Yomi Awoniyi, who scored 77 votes and the PDP governorship candidate in 2019, Musa Wada, who had a total of 56 votes.

Melaye will be running against the All Progressive Congress (APC) candidate, Usman Ododo, a former Auditor General of Local Government in Kogi State, who was endorsed by the incumbent governor, Yahaya Bello. 

Melaye had recently clashed with Governor Nyesom Wike of Rivers State who laughed off his aspiration to succeed Governor Yahaya Bello.