Senator Dino Melaye has emerged the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) candidate for the November 11 governorship election in Kogi State.
Melaye defeated other aspirants in the keenly contested primary election.
Melaye polled 313 votes out of the 738 delegates to defeat eight other aspirants including his closest rival, Kingsley Idoko who polled 124 votes, Usman Kabiru who scored 121 votes and Abayomi Awoniyi, a former deputy governor, scored 77 votes.
Other contestants are Wada Musa, who scored 56 votes; Ojaja Enama, who scored 5, and Olufemi Olarewaju who scored 2 votes.
Mr Markarfi declared that six votes were recorded as void while Abdullahi Haruna, a Senior Advocate of Nigeria (SAN) withdrew from the race before voting commenced.