The running battle between the nation’s police authorities and Senator Dino Melaye assumed a new dimension recently when a siege to his residence for eight days led to his arrest and subsequent ill health claims. SAMSON BENJAMIN, in this report, examines the controversies surrounding the senator’s latest travail and its implication on his re-election bid.
For Dino Melaye, the Senator representing Kogi West Senatorial District, this is not the best of time. The Senator, who is known for his outspokenness and drama, has been embroiled with the Kogi state government on one hand and the Nigeria Police on the other, over allegation of gun running, culpable homicide, and giving false information to the police, among others.
He has been involved in many controversies since he became a member of the 8th Senate. From his certificate saga to allegedly escaping multiple assassinations attempt, to jumping from a moving police van, to his famous recall saga, to hiding on top of a tree for eleven hours, to the recent eight days of police siege on his house, the list goes on and on. He may, indeed, go down in history as the most controversial of all the current legislators in the Upper Chamber. And if recent sequence of event is anything to go by, his travails appear far from being over.
Melaye’s health, location
As it stands, there appears to be confusion as to the true state of health and location of the senator. He purportedly suffered unconsciousness in police custody following alleged maltreatment by some personnel, few hours when he surrendered himself to the police after eight days of police siege on his residence.
The media reported last week that masked security operatives stormed Police hospital in Garkil where Melaye, was receiving treatment, and forcibly removed him.
However, Police spokesperson, Jimoh Moshood, later said that Melaye was moved to a medical facility of the Department of State Services (DSS) Clinic in Abuja.
Moshood said the lawmaker was taken away from the police clinic to nother government-owned medical facility after the senator and the police disagreed about his fitness to face trial.
“The Police medical team at the Police Hospital, Abuja certified that Senator Dino Melaye is well and healthy to stand trial after treating him. However, due to the complaint from Senator Dino Melaye that he is not well, the Police Investigation Team has taken him this afternoon to another government hospital, DSS Medical Facility in Abuja for further medical attention,” Moshood said.
He said the police have obtained a warrant of arrest from a Federal Capital Territory High Court to keep the embattled senator for 14 days, start from January 9.
“The Police Investigation Team obtained a Fourteen (14) day Remand Warrant from the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) High Court on 9th January, 2019, to keep Senator Dino Melaye in Police custody for investigation into the case of criminal conspiracy and attempted culpable homicide against him till 23rd January, 2019,” he said.
Confusion
It would be recalled that Moshood had, in a statement, shortly after Dino surrendered himself, said the senator, who he noted, was earlier declared wanted by the police for culpable homicide, would be arraigned in court only on conclusion of investigation in the case brought against him.
“Senator Dino Melaye is currently in Police custody for investigation, and subsequently, taken to Police hospital, Abuja for medical attention and he is in stable condition.
“Investigation into the case of criminal conspiracy and attempted culpable homicide against him is on-going. The case will be taken to court on completion of investigation,” he said in the statement.
The statement further explained that Senator Melaye was “wanted by the police for criminal conspiracy and attempted culpable homicide, committed on 19th July, 2018, when he and his armed thugs attacked police personnel, shot and wounded Sergeant Danjuma Saliu on stop-and- search duty along Aiyetoro Gbede, Mopa Road in Kogi state.”
“The Police Officer, Sgt. Danjuma Saliu, is yet to recover from the gunshot injury he sustained during the attack and still under intensive medical care in the hospital.
“The Police Investigation Team had since 28th December, 2018 at about 1000hrs arrived the residence of Senator Dino Melaye with a duly obtained Warrant of Arrest to effect his arrest to answer to a case of Criminal Conspiracy and Attempted Culpable Homicide against him under investigation in the Kogi state Police Command. Senator Dino Melaye on sighting the Police Team locked up himself in the building to evade arrest.”
“The Warrant of Arrest was obtained after Senator Dino Melaye refused to honour Police invitation dated 23rd July, 2018, signed by the Commissioner of Police, Kogi state Police Command addressed to the Clerk, National Assembly, Abuja, inviting Senator Dino Melaye to report on 26th July, 2018 at 1100Hrs at the Kogi state Police Command, CIID, Lokoja to answer to a case of Criminal Conspiracy and Attempted Culpable Homicide against him under investigation in the Kogi state Police Command.”
However, in a twist of event, the police on January 14 dragged the embattled senator to an Abuja Federal High Court over alleged illegal possession of firearms.
In a charge filed against Melaye, the police claimed that a pump-action gun was recovered from lawmaker’s residence in Kogi state in July 2018, during a search of the property.
The police, in the charge sheet marked FHC/ABJ/CR/07/2019, said the offence contravened Section 27 of the Fire Arms Act.
The charge sheet read: “That you, Dino Melaye, representing Kogi West district in the 8th National Assembly, on or about the 20th day of July 2018, at about 12.30 hours under the jurisdiction of this honourable court, unlawfully had in your possession one automatic pump-action shotgun and 20 cartridges, which were
recovered at your residence located in the Ayetoro Gbede area of Kogi State, when a search warrant was executed on the directives of the Nigeria Police Force at your above mentioned residence under your control and thereby committed an offence contrary to Section 27(1)(a)(i) of the Firearms Act Cap F28 Laws of the Federation of Nigeria, 2004.”
The police also provided eight witnesses to attest to the charges which comprised six policemen and two men who were painting in Melaye’s house when the policemen came to search the property.
The witnesses included DSP Babagana Bukar, DSP Ibrahim Abalaka, ASP Abdullahi Musa, Inspector Atabo Okpanachi, Inspector Apeh Peter, Theophilus Nuhu, Matthew Anthony and ASP Mohammed Onu.
In his statement, Nuhu, who is a painter, reportedly said: “On July 24, 2018, my master, Peter, brought one Matthew Anthony and myself from Kaduna state to Kogi for painting work in which he took us to one Senator Dino Melaye’s house at Ayetoro, Gbede area of Kogi state.
“While we were doing the painting, policemen, comprising MOPOL, SARS and SCID, came in and met us in the compound and they told me they wanted to conduct a search in the compound and they started to search the compound.
“Within and around the boys’ quarters building, where some cars were parked, under the flower, a gun was observed there with many bullets, but I do not know who put the gun there.”
Long arm of the law
With about a month to the February 16 presidential and National Assembly polls, one issue that is likely to shape the election in Kogi West Senatorial District is the travails of Melaye.
Although he represents Kogi West, his running battles with Governor Yahaya Bello and by extension, federal authorities, have far-reaching implications for the polls beyond his immediate constituency.
For this, his current ordeal, as was the case with him for most of last year in the hands of the police, is a matter of interest to the entire people of Kogi state, which has the tendency of rubbing off on the elections.
The senatorial election in Kogi-west is essentially a two-way horse race between the PDP and the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC).
Smart Adeyemi, the candidate of the APC who lost to Melaye by a slim margin in 2015, incidentally on the PDP platform, is the current APC flag-bearer.
Adeyemi, a two-time senator, with record of good performance during his tenure between 2007 and 2015, is banking on APC’s incumbency power, which has all the seven Councils in the senatorial district under the control of appointed administrators and state appointees loyal to the ruling party.
Chief Shola Ojo, a member of the PDP from the senatorial district, told Blueprint Weekend that police allegation that Melaye was on the run from law and justice is unfounded.
He said: “We don’t want to say much because the cases are already in court. But we are of the conviction that our candidate is innocent and that he will be vindicated in the end. What he has always demanded of them (police) was protection.
“The implication of the legal battles is that the senator, the Peoples Democratic Party’s (PDP) candidate in the senate election in Kogi West district is condemned to miss the electioneering campaign, and will probably not be around for his election.
“Without prejudice to legalities and the outcome of court proceedings, despite that Melaye has not been sighted in Kogi since July last year; he has remained a strong contender for the senate election.”
Similarly, the chairman, Media Directorate, Dino Melaye Campaign Organisation (DMCO), Bawa Yakubu, said: “It is severely disheartening and unbelievable, that a serving Senator can be so treated like a common criminal, merely on the strength of unsubstantiated criminal allegations.
“Recall that for eight days, Senator Dino Melaye was unduly subjected to series of intimidation, torments, including laying siege to his residence, thereby denying him access to his medicine, his family, personal aides, his lawyers and personal physician.
“How he feeds in this embattled state is not of any concern to the police, as it is alleged that they were under a tall order to fetch him by hook or crook, meaning dead or alive! But why did the police bombard Dino’s home with excessive teargas, if not with the intent to suffocate him to death as alleged?”
He said Melaye’s only sin stemmed from the fact that he chose to ally with the poor and the voiceless, instead of allowing himself to be a surrogate of the executive arm; and his defection from APC to PDP.
“Dino is being hounded because of his rattling defection to the PDP from APC on the floor of the Senate, which stimulated more defections of his colleagues to the opposition. This obviously led to a sharp decline in APC membership and strength, which in turn affected their initial dominant position. Consequently, their capacity to pull through and pass motions and bills in the Senate was greatly hampered.
“Dino was, therefore, fingered as their nemesis. This was more so, when their several attempted plots to replace Saraki with Senator Lawan, woefully collapsed on their faces, like a pack of cards. It was obvious that Dino’s calculated and timely decampment, with its attendant tsunami effect on his colleagues, provided the needed antidote that toned down and aborted their unquenchable dream of Senate presidency, at the expense of Dr. Bukola Saraki. From the foregoing, it is glaring why they are desperately using the police to frequently harass, trail and arrest with the intent to cow him into submission,” he said.
However, Sunday Adeniyi, a former House of Representatives member from Kogi- west told Blueprint Weekend that “nobody is above the law.”
“Whoever commits a crime will be answerable to it. The only persons that have immunity are the executive people – the president, vice president, governors and deputy governors. If he (Melaye) feels that the allegation is a frame-up, let him go to court to prove his innocence rather than being dramatic.”
“If an allegation is made against anybody, it is the duty of that person to make sure that he proves his innocence. The fact that he is a Senator does not mean he cannot be tried. That is the position of the law,” he said.
Barrister Emeka Ojobo, also speaking in the same manner, said the action of Senator Maleye portrayed him as a desperate “tout” who was out of his mind.
He said: “Honestly, I am not impressed by the drama he put against his arrest. What he wanted to prove, I am yet to come to term to it. I am totally unimpressed by the drama he tried to put up which is even risky to his health and life. What he intended to prove by that drama is not clear to me. He behaved like a desperate tout that is almost out of his mind. With all the comforts that we hear he has around him, he still wants to put his life in that type of danger.”
Sympathy votes
Yakubu said: “The consensus in Kogi-west is that the lawmaker’s absence before or during the elections would not affect his chances at the polls. The cases of Senator Iyiola Omisore and former Governor of Abia state, Theodore Orji, who were elected while incarcerated, will sure play out come February 16, if Melaye does not regain his freedom.
“The symphonies that came with Dino’s incarceration are seen as being to his advantage. Melaye’s unavailability for campaign has gingered his supporters to re-double their campaign efforts towards securing a historic victory for the detained flag bearer.”
