DINO Melaye, a senator from Kogi State, is in the eye of the storm. From Monday, April 23, when he was prevented from travelling out of the country and briefly detained at the Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport, Abuja, the senator has been having a running battle with the Nigeria Police Force.
By Wednesday, the struggle between the senator and the police had turned too nasty for his colleagues in the Senate to ignore. At the plenary on the day, the senators, who apparently felt uncomfortable and distressed by the plight of one of them, stepped down all other matters for the day to discuss extensively on the situation.
In an emotional laden debate, the Senate resolved to summon and grill Ibrahim Idris, inspector general of Police, on Thursday, April 26, at a plenary to be televised live for the Nigerian audience.
But rather than heed to the Senate’s invitation, Idris accompanied President Muhammadu Buhari on a state visit to Bauchi State. This, prompted the lawmakers to reschedule his appearance to next Wednesday, May 2.
Although the Senate faulted the police boss for not officially communicating to them on his non-appearance, it is expected that the anger in the house would have been significantly lessen by the time he honours the Senate’s invitation.
Indeed, at the plenary which held on Wednesday, April 25, it was obvious that the senators were emotional and understandably vexed by the plight of their colleague. Hence, at end of the debate, which lasted for more than one hour, the senators made some far reaching decisions. First, they condemned Melaye’s treatment, saying it undignified a lawmaker of his status. Second, they invited Ibrahim Idris, inspector general of police, to appear before them on Thursday, April 26, to explain why Melaye was being treated like a common criminal. Third, the senators decided to see visit their colleague on his hospital bed at the National Hospital, Abuja, to assess his condition.
Understandably, tempers rose at the Senate during the plenary on Wednesday when the senators discussed the arrest and detention of Melaye by the police over alleged involvement in gun-running.
Several lawmakers, who spoke alleged that policemen prevented them from seeing Melaye at the National Hospital, Abuja, where he was still undergoing treatment over the injuries he sustained from his alleged attempt to escape from the police on Tuesday, April 24, when he was being taken to Kogi State.
The debate on Melaye began when Samuel Anyanwu, a senator representing Imo State, raised a point of order to condemn the police over how Melaye was treated like “a common criminal” by security operatives on Tuesday, April 24.
Seconding the motion, Chukwuka Utazi, a senator from Enugu State, stated that “coercion cannot work,” stressing that it was not the way things should be done. He called for due process, especially as the matter was already in the court and the court had not issued an arrest warrant against Melaye.
Besides, Isa Misau, a senator from Bauchi State, asked why the police wanted to forcefully take Melaye to Lokoja, the Kogi State capital, when the alleged offence by the lawmaker was committed in Abuja. Misau insisted that “an allegation remains an allegation until proven to be true.”
Nevertheless, he said it was on record that Melaye had insisted that his life would be in danger, if taken to Kogi State. Thus, Missau warned that Melaye’s relocation to Kogi State might spark protests and violence.
The senator also noted that if the police had enough personnel to deploy about a hundred men to guard Melaye in hospital, more policemen should be redeployed in Zamfara or Benue “where killings are taking place every day.”
In her contribution, Oluremi Tinubu, a senator from Lagos State, who frown at what was happening to to Melaye, said: “If Senators Dino Melaye and Ovie-Omo Agege can be taken away by the police, it destroys the sanctity of this chamber.”
On his own, Mohammed Ubali Shittu, a senator representing Jigawa State, in his speech said: “Yesterday, it was war against the judiciary, today it is war against the parliament.”
He said it was obvious that some institutions were being used to target persons perceived to be enemies of the government.
Shittu, who noted that what he was saying could cause him his life, said he was prepared to pay the supreme sacrifice.
In any case, Abdullahi Adamu, a former governor and senator representing Nasarawa West, described the issue as “emotional.” He, therefore, cautioned: “In moments like this, it is not a matter of what he did or didn’t do on the floor of this hallowed chamber.
“I think the issue is how we get him out of the situation he is in. The emphasis now is what can we do as colleagues to bring him out of this present predicament he is now in. The outpouring of confrontational languages does not help us in this situation.”
After the plenary and based on the Senate resolution, Bukola Saraki, president of the Senate, led some senators to the National Hospital, Abuja, where they first met with Patricia Etteh, a former speaker of the House of Representatives, who is now the chairman of the Governing Board of the hospital and Jeff Momoh, the chief medical director.
Etteh and Momoh later led the lawmakers to the National Trauma Centre within the premises where Melaye was being treated. They spent about 20 minutes in the building, which was manned by about 50 armed policemen.
After the visit, Saraki said: “After the sitting of the Senate today, we decided to come here because, for 24 hours we have not heard or known the state of Senator Dino. We are happy that we have seen him. He is under intensive care. He is stable for now. He has not eaten for the past 24 hours. We are trying to resolve that. He is on fluids and he has been seen by a cardiologist and all specialists.”
Asked whether Melaye was handcuffed to his bed as reported, Saraki said, “No, he is not on handcuffs.”
But it was gathered that the police had earlier on Wednesday, April 25 handcuffed Melaye on his hospital bed at the National Hospital, Abuja, apparently to prevent him from escaping.
The handcuffs were however removed shortly before senators led by the Senate President visited him at the trauma centre of the hospital.
Tayo Haastrup, the NAH spokesman, confirmed on Wednesday that Melaye was still receiving treatment, adding that he could not provide information on his health.
“I didn’t see handcuffs on him when the senators visited him this (Wednesday) afternoon. The doctors are still treating him, so I can’t comment on his health,” Haastrup stated.
That notwithstanding, the Police were said to have insisted that they would transport Melaye to Lokoja, to stand trial in a string of criminal allegations that included murder and armed robbery. Some suspects had allegedly confessed to being armed and financed by the senator. The senator has severally denied the allegations, saying his ordeal was orchestrated by Governor Yahaya Bello of Kogi State, his former ally with whom he had been locked in fierce political rivalry for over a year.
Bello denied the allegations, saying Melaye’s recklessness had finally caught up with him.
Indeed, trouble started for Melaye when he was arrested at the Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport, Abuja, on Monday, April 23, while on his way to Morocco with other senators on official assignment.
But later that Monday, policemen stormed his residence at Shanga Street, Maitama, Abuja, where they kept a vigil in a bid to arrest him.
On Tuesday morning, Melaye surrendered to the operatives, who drove him away in a white Hiace bus followed by three other vehicles to the Special Anti-Robbery Squad facility at Guzape, Abuja.
It was gathered that Melaye, on suspecting that the Police were taking him to Lokoja, Kogi State, he allegedly engaged the officers in the bus in a scuffle and managed to jump out of the van after it was blocked by unidentified vehicles at about 2.10pm.
A newspaper reported that an eyewitness alleged that about five hefty men, believed to be the embattled lawmaker’s supporters, emerged from nowhere in two pick-up vans and tried to spirit the senator away in their vehicles.
The situation caused pandemonium in the area as the Policemen who were shocked by the audacious act, threatened to shoot the lawmaker and his supporters.
This led to a scuffle during which the lawmaker was allegedly manhandled by the policemen.
Eyewitnesses said Melaye sustained injury during the incident and he was subsequently rushed to Zankli Hospital, Abuja, by the miscreants that rescued him from the police.
The police reinforcement later traced him to the hospital and re-arrested him and then took him to the National Hospital, Abuja, in an ambulance.
Details of the incident were given by the police in a statement issued on Tuesday, April 25, and signed by Jimoh Moshood, an assistant commissioner of police and theFforce public relations officer.
The statement said: “At about 1200Hrs of today Sen. Dino Melaye while in lawful custody of the Nigeria Police Force and being taken for arraignment in Federal High Court, Lokoja from Abuja, escaped from lawful custody when hoodlums and miscreants in Two Toyota Hilux Vehicles blocked the Police vehicle conveying Senator Dino Melaye around Area 1 Round About, Abuja, and in the process the senator jumped out of the police vehicle through the window and was rescued from the police men by hoodlums and miscreants to an unknown destination.
“The police team reinforced and trailed Senator Dino Melaye to Zankli Hospital, Abuja, where he was re-arrested.
“The Senator would be arraigned in court without further delay.
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The Police disclosed that one of the Toyota Hilux vehicles used by the hoodlums and miscreants in aiding Melaye’s escape had been recovered by the Police investigation team. And that the IGP had directed a thorough investigation into the circumstances leading to the rescue and escape of the senator from lawful custody.
However, Gideon Ayodele, media aide of Melaye, said his principal decided to help himself, because he believed that the Police were taking him away to be “assassinated by Governor Yahaya Bello.”
In a statement on the issue, Ayodele said: “Contrary to online reports about jumping out of a moving police vehicle. Nothing could be farther from the truth as such insinuation is practically impossible for a man saddled between gun-wielding policemen. Today’s incident was a last resort by Senator Dino Melaye in order to foil attempt to kidnap him and kill him by agents of Kogi State governor in connivance with the Police.
He said the senator as a law abiding citizen had voluntarily submitted himself to the operatives of the Special Anti-Robbery Squad, SARS, who had laid siege to his private residence since around 3.35pm of Monday, April 23.
“For the avoidance of doubt, he had never evaded police invitation before now because there was none extended to him in the first place. Rather, what the Police FPRO, Mr. Jimoh Moshood, had been doing was to summon the senator through media briefings, a practice which is unconventional,” Ayodele said.
Indeed, the Kogi State Police Command on Wednesday, March 28, declared the lawmaker representing the Kogi West Senatorial District, wanted.
The police also confirmed the escape from custody of two suspects arrested and paraded the previous week for allegedly working for the senator and Mohammed Audu, the son of Abubakar Audu, a former governor of Kogi State.
Addressing newsmen in Lokoja, the state capital, Ali Janga, the state commissioner of Police, said the duo had been placed on Interpol watch-list.
Janga said Kabir Seidu and Nuhu Salisu, the two suspects, were among six suspects that escaped from custody in the early hours of Wednesday. The other escapees are Aliyu Isa, Adams Suleiman, Emmanuel Audu and Musa Mohammed.
The police alleged that Melaye had contracted one Kabiru Seidu and his gang as political thugs, adding that the lawmaker met with the suspect on Airport Road, Abuja, inside his car in December 2017 and gave him a bag containing an AK47 rifle, two pump-action guns and N430,000 to share with his boys.
Both Seidu and Salisu were later re-arrested on Sunday, April 1, and are scheduled to be arraigned in court on May 10.
Prior to his being declared wanted, Melaye disclosed that he had earlier written to the IGP stating his intention to submit himself to the Police for investigation, but he said the matter should be handled in Abuja, and not in Kogi State.
The senator similarly wrote to the United States embassy, British High Commission and other foreign missions, alleging attempt by the Police to hurt him.
While he was being declared wanted shortly before noon Wednesday, March 28, Melaye was on the floor of the Senate during which he lambasted the police and alleging conspiracy against him.
He accused the police of plotting a cover-up by either killing the suspects or orchestrating their escape. “I will sue the IGP for intimidation, abuse of power, harassment and mental assault if these 2 suspects are not produced dead or alive,” Melaye said during the Senate plenary.
In any case, the senator is not only in conflict with the police, all efforts to stop his being recalled by his constituency appear to have failed. Following the decision of the Appeal Court, the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, on Wednesday, April 25, announced that it had commenced the recall process of the senator. The exercise was made possible by the Appeal Court decision which gave the INEC the go-ahead with the recall process.
James Apam, Kogi State resident electoral commissioner, who announced the process at a news conference, said INEC had started the verification exercise of voters in his constituency. “The verification exercise, which is the first in the line of activities to be carried out in a recall process, will be done on 28th April, 2018 in 560 polling units in the Kogi West Senatorial District,” he said.
Apam said that the result of the exercise would be announced on Sunday, April 29, when collation is expected to have been concluded.
According to him, “The result of the verification exercise would determine whether or not to proceed to the next stage, which is referendum.”
It is being suggested in the political circles that Melaye must have consciously or unconsciously put himself in political firing line for being a staunch critic of his ruling the All Progressives Congress, APC. On Wednesday, March 7, the senator accused the APC government of borrowing N11 trillion since coming to power in May 2015, whereas the opposition Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, which was in power for 16 years, only borrowed N6 trillion.
He had also before then slammed the ruling APC for failing to meet the expectations of Nigerians, adding, “I say this without fear or favour. We have more complaints in the APC and even in the Presidency than service rendered. We cannot as a people continue like this,” he said.
The senator vowed to continue to criticise the government and that no amount of threat or intimidation from those he described, as “criminals in power” would cow him.
Nevertheless, his stance elicited comments from the likes of Reuben Abati, a former spokesman to former President Goodluck Jonathan, who observed that Melaye had proven to be more of an opposition leader to the present administration than the PDP.
In an article titled: ‘Where is the Nigerian Opposition?’ published on Tuesday, April 3, Abati noted that while Melaye was playing the role of opposition leader, “One or two PDP senators, along with some other APC members, in comparison, have since acquired a reputation for going to the Red Chamber to sleep during plenary sessions!
“APC Senator Dino Melaye has functioned more as an opposition leader than any PDP Senator with his persistent interrogation of Executive policies and actions,” Abati said.
That notwithstanding, Kola Ologbondiyan, PDP national publicity secretary, in a statement in Abuja, on Tuesday, April 24, accused the APC government of harassing, arresting, and even arraigning the leadership of the Senate and elected senators on trumped-up charges for holding opinion divergent to that of the executive arm.
“The world has been watching with horror since it started with the arraignment of Senate President Bukola Saraki, Deputy Senate President Ike Ekweremadu and other senators on trumped-up charges as well as attempts to rope in Ekweremadu on charges related to treason.
“Today, we are witnessing the harassment and arrest of Sen. Dino Melaye, who is known for his support for the Senate leadership and his criticisms of the excesses of the executive arm.
“Currently, Senators Aliyu Wamakko, Rabiu Kwakwanso and Danjuma Goje are all being harassed for holding opinions that do not suit the whims and caprices of the executive,” Ologbodiyan said.
The PDP alleged that the assault was aimed at silencing strong dissenting voices, emasculate the legislature and prevent it from playing its constitutional duties of checking the excesses and impunity of the executive arm.
But Bunmi Binitie, a medical doctor, has a different opinion. He accused Melaye and other lawmakers of trying to be law to themselves. He said: “In short, these senators believe they are just to make laws but not obey them. And the law enforcement agents must let them be? No wonder they were trying to make laws to give themselves immunity!”
Binitie argued that once the leader of a people was upright and insisted that every person must also be upright, the police themselves would be encouraged to the law.
He said: “I can imagine that in the past, those who would try to enforce the law would rather get punished for that. Imagine what would have happened to the policemen who arrested Dino if it was in the past. They could even be dismissed for doing their work!”
In his own submission, Adebayo Adewunmi, a businessman and public commentator, said it was hypocrisy for the Senate to invite the IGP because of Melaye and that the Senate should not be seen to be above the law of the land.
Adewunmi said in an interview: “A senator was indicted for supplying weapons to some individual, he was invited by police for clarification, he refused to honour the invitation several times, he was even reported to Interpol. Later he was arrested and his colleagues are now fighting institution (Police) that statutorily designated to see to such issue.
“Why did the Senate not advice Dino to honour Police invitation in the first instance? Is individual bigger than statutory institution? A whole Nigeria Senate closed the chamber just to see one of them in hospital yesterday (Thursday, April 25) on a contrived injury sustained. Why can’t they do same for a lot of Nigerians being maimed daily?
“Budget submitted to them last year is gathering dust in the Assembly. This 8th Assembly is the joke of century. The senators love playing politics than governance. History will surely serve as witness to all (their) actions.”
Similarly, Pat Onwusoro, a political analyst, asked why the IGP should be summoned because a senator wanted to escape lawful arrest and why he was never being invited to explain the brutality being meted out to other Nigerians by the same Police Force. Hence, Onwusoro wondered why Melaye had “become a matter of national importance that the IGP would abandon his other numerous engagements to attend to a summon made on his behalf.”
No matter, it appears the face-off between Mealye and the Police is just unfolding, but how the case is going to end is anybody’s guess.
