The Kogi governorship candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party, Dino Melaye has said that the state had no business being poor while sitting on gold mine enough to make the citizens of the state immensely rich.
Melaye said this at his official unveiling in Lokoja by the state chapter of the PDP, ahead of the November 11 election.
The ceremony, which was held on Wednesday in the state capital, was attended by party leaders across the three senatorial districts of the state
Speaking shortly after he was presented to the party faithful, Dino Melaye expressed his appreciation to every member of the party for the confidence reposed in him.
Melaye said, “Kogi State has over 42 mineral resources untapped; there is nothing wrong if we have five Obajanas in the state. There is no reason Ajaokuta should not be working. There is no reason we should depend on monthly federal allocation. All these will be brought to a halt when I become the governor through you in November.
“We have enormous resources and loose funds around the world waiting to be accessed, what you only need is an enabling environment and ideas to assess those funds. I will use my connection around the world to attract investment to the state.”
Melaye, a former senator who represented Kogi West, won the April 16 PDP primary for the November 11 governorship election, having polled 313 votes to defeat his closest rival, Jabiru Usman, who polled 124 votes.
Also speaking during the ceremony, a former governor of the state, Ibrahim Idris, called on party faithful to rally behind Melaye, saying, “To do this there is the need to see ourselves on one big family and work together to install Dino Melaye in November.”
