Friday, March 29, 2024

The Dino Melaye Nigerians don’t know – Kinsmen

…‘Lawmaker’s political structures growing stronger in his absence’

  • I’m not involved in his travails, Gov. Yahaya Bello insists
  • Melaye’ll come out a greater hero – Loyalists

Ahead of the ruling on Senator Dino Melaye’s application for bail that is still pending before Justice Nasir Ajanah of Kogi State High Court, the kinsmen of the embattled senator have vowed that his innocence will not only be proved, but that neither the continued incarceration of the senator nor the alleged scheme to expel him from the ruling All Progressives Congress will produce results.
The kinsmen, who spoke in separate interviews with our correspondent during a week-long visit to Melaye’s Kogi West Senatorial District, said many Nigerians were not aware of the kind of support the controversial senator enjoyed in his constituency, and Kogi State in general.

We will be too happy to field him because he will make history as the first independent candidate to be elected to the Senate in the face of opposition from established political parties. If you had carefully followed the harassments that culminated in the framing up of murder charges against him, you would see the handwriting on the wall

According to them, many of those who have made a name in Kogi State today, including Governor Yahaya Bello, benefitted from Melaye’s political structures, which have continued to grow stronger even in his absence.
“Even his enemies cannot deny the fact that he is an inevitable grassroots mobiliser, who must be consulted before any meaningful political decision is made in Kogi State,” one of the APC leaders in the state, who asked not to be named, said.
Although the Chief Press Secretary to Governor Yahaya Bello, Petra Akinti, on Saturday, told our correspondent in Lokoja that the administration was not involved in Senator Melaye’s current ordeals, the kinsmen and political followers of the detained senator insist that he is being jointly molested by those who stand to benefit from his continued incarceration at the federal and state levels.
Findings by our correspondent in Melaye’s constituency revealed that some of his kinsmen and political loyalists had run into what could be described as exile for fear of political persecution and victimisation. Some of them spoke to our correspondent under the condition of anonymity.
An Executive Committee member of the APC in Melaye’s constituency, Alh Buhari Abdulrasheed, condemned Dino’s arrest and detention, describing it as an action that was informed by the immaturity of the current administration.
He lamented that Kogi West Senatorial District was currently suffering zero-representation in the Senate, and advised Governor Bello to exhibit political maturity by tolerating the opposition, noting that Melaye was absolutely committed to the wellbeing of the state.
Abdulrasheed said, “We elected Senator Melaye to represent seven local government areas of Kogi West, but we are sad that government is so intolerant of his progressive views and that has become very costly for us because his incarceration makes it difficult for him to represent us.
“However, I am happy that the masses have rejected the wooing of the government, aimed at pitching the people against Sen Melaye. This is especially with regard to the failed recall bid that was masterminded by government.”
“Those who have commonsense know that the Federal Government is writing the script for the political persecution of Senator Dino Melaye as well as supplying the logistics needed to execute it, while the Kogi State Government is doing its best to implement it,” he added, noting that “the entire exercise will fail just as the N5 billion recall bid failed woefully.”
In Melaye’s Ward-One in Ayetoro, two reliable sources, who pleaded anonymity, said the murder charge slammed on the senator was particularly arranged to punish him for his democratic views, which were against government’s policies, especially his insistence that the Bello administration must pay all salaries and emoluments due to its workforce.
One of the sources, who is resident in Kabba Bunu LGA, said, “Dino is not the sort of man who can be cowed to silence in the face of injustice, so they set out to ruin his political career; they framed him up.
“I assure you that it will fail just like the N5billion recall bid fell like a pack of cards.”
A former chairman of Kabba Bunu Local Government area council, Chief Segun Modeyin, who ran into exile, explained that against the expectation of the Bello administration of Kogi State, Senator Melaye’s incarceration was churning out political advantages for him in the state and at the Federal level.
“The most significant advantage is that it has led to overflow of followership as a result of the sympathies it attracted to him,” he claimed.
Modeyin, who is currently the Coordinator of the Melaye Supporter Camp in Kabba Bunu Local Government Area, said Yahaya Bello was a new entrant into politics, who lacked the political wherewithal needed to embark on a tussle with Melaye.
While pitching tent with two anonymous respondents, who described the murder charge slammed on the senator as a false allegation intended to silence him, he described Melaye as a firebrand activist.
“Even a child would decipher the fact that the murder charge was to set him up,” he said, adding that when the detained senator was arrested in Maitama and taken to Force Headquarters, “those whose confessions reportedly implicated Senator Dino could not identify him.”
On the fear expressed in some quarters that his incarceration might lead to a conviction by a court of law, another Kogi West APC stalwart, who pleaded anonymity, said it was impossible for government to secure Melaye’s conviction, pointing out that evidence had shown that the charge was frivolous.
“When Dino Melaye was arrested in his Maitama home and taken to the Force Headquarters, in the presence of his lawyers and plain-clothes policemen, the said murderers were brought out and asked to identify the person they claimed contracted them to kill, but they pointed to somebody else. When this happened, we wished it happened in court, where the judge would have seen how frivolous the charge was,” he said.
In a related development, the Center for Policy Advocacy and Leadership Development, at the weekend, called on the Nigerian Judiciary to exercise its responsible discretion in Melaye’s application for bail, saying that the decision of the court on the accused senator did not appear to have regard for his right to bail, considering the notion that murder charge is bailable under the laws of the Federation.
Director of the Centre, Mesele Folu Joe, said, “Until he is found guilty, Senator Dino Melaye should be accorded the rights, privileges and dignity of a free citizen. The allegation against him is of a bailable offence. Especially in this particular case, the judiciary must showcase their independence by dispensing justice and allowing the rule of law to reign.”
One of Melaye’s loyalists, who spoke to our correspondent on the condition of anonymity in his constuency, said, “It has become obvious that the man is being hunted for no just cause.
“We have received information that the same powers are so scared of his popularity that they now want to expel him from the APC.”
He added that the team had already made top level consultations and had arrived at a decision to convince the senator to consider running as an independent candidate.
“Dino Melaye’s popularity cuts across party boundaries and we are confident that he will still defeat the opposition even if he decides to run as an independent candidate,” he declared.
He expressed the hope that the Constitution would permit a zero-party candidacy, adding that such would guarantee the first leg of victory over the plot to expel him from the APC.
He said, “We will be too happy to field him because he will make history as the first independent candidate to be elected to the Senate in the face of opposition from established political parties. If you had carefully followed the harassments that culminated in the framing up of murder charges against him, you would see the handwriting on the wall; you would clearly see how his state government was backed by the bigger government to embarrass the senator.
“But we are sure that for us, victory is a case of commonsense, and we expect the government to know this by now. Those of us who live in his constituency, Kogi West Senatorial District, know him for good deeds. Even his enemies cannot deny the fact that he is an inevitable grassroots mobiliser, who must be consulted before any meaningful political decision is made. Even GYB is one of the major beneficiaries of Dino’s huge political force.”
When asked what he considered the root cause of Melaye’s current travails, Modeyin, the former Kabba Bunu LGA chairman, said, “Dino courageously confronted powerful people, who are doing things in a manner that is against the principles of democracy and justice. The failed recall exercise, which was orchestrated by the Kogi State Government, backed by the Federal Government, is one of the clearest indications of Senator Dino’s popularity. But he is even more popular abroad than in his native homeland of Kogi West.
“The government should hide its face because after spending N5billion to pull down a man who is being held captive, the plot failed! It’s a woeful failure because they could only gather a little above five per cent, whereas over 50 per cent is needed to hatch their plan. This is enough to tell the world that the Yahaya Bello administration is on its way out of power. The powers that be today will soon be giving account of how they used the mandate.”
Recalling the issues, which led to the resentment between Bello and Melaye, the former chairman said, “When Dino sought my support for his bid to be elected into the Senate for Kogi West Senatorial District, I said to him, ‘How would you unseat Senator Smart Adeyemi, who is a powerful politician that has built formidable structures around himself, even though he is not very close to his people?
“Dino Melaye’s bid for the Senate was successful despite Smart’s formidable structures; so he was able to rescue us from Senator Smart Adeyemi. Dino proved that he was smarter than Sen Smart and so Dino won the election. Those who know Dino Melaye will agree that Yahaya Bello and his supporters are wasting their time. They may have arrested him, but it will be very difficult to defeat him in the end.”
Melaye was arrested by the police in Abuja on April 23, 2018, but while being conveyed to Lokoja, the Kogi State capital, the next day, to be arraigned in court for conspiracy and unlawful possession of prohibited firearms, the police alleged that he attempted to escape by jumping down from their vehicle. He was later arraigned by the police in Abuja on charges bearing on his alleged escape.

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