DINO: Has the ‘bully’ become a victim?

Probably, one of those who seemed not to understand the body language of the presidency and its abhorrence of criticism of President Muhammadu Buhari and his perceived mismanagement of Nigeria’s diversity and economy was Senator Dino Melaye.

Popular as Dino, the Kogi West Senator recently got a dose of the drug meant for those who were unrepentant in their criticism of President Buhari.

Prior to that, Dino had raged on like a pop star. He became theatrical in his display of opulence. He allowed his culture, with which he had fought his way up the political ladder, to take the better part of him as he displayed unflinching support, sometimes, as body guard, of the Senate President, Bukola Saraki. And for his sworn decision to stand or sink with Saraki, he became a marked man.

However, the surprise that attended his travail followed his pre-2015 general election campaigns.

Dino came to limelight as a member of the House of Representatives which was made possible by his membership of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP). He was later to fall-out with the Dimeji Bankole-leadership of the House. He accused the leadership of the House of sleaze in the purchase of cars for members of the assembly. A brawl that ensued along the line earned him an indefinite suspension from the House. That suspension ended his romance with the lower chamber of the National Assembly as he stayed away till the end of the life of the assembly.

Frustrated and angered, a desperate Dino dumped the party and sought a return on the back of the opposition party. He failed. Out of the House, he sought to remain relevant and teamed up with the late Abubakar Audu, whom he worked for as member of his Governorship Election Campaign Committee.

He however found his way back to the Senate riding on the back of the All Progressives Congress (APC) in 2015 while adopting the party’s stylistic abuse of the person and family of then President, Goodluck Jonathan. At the time, he was a darling of the APC and was well loved. His virulent attacks on his erstwhile platform, PDP, and Jonathan, became appreciable qualities that earned him love of the APC.

Many believed that he would adopt the party’s policy of see no evil and say no evil against the APC, its leadership and the leadership of the country. But for a Dino for whom loyalty to Saraki was a matter of life and death, any action against Saraki was a needle in the heart.

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For this reason, he literally parted ways with the membership philosophy of the APC and despite his pre-election support for President Buhari, stood out as among the few voices that constantly engaged the Presidency on matters of policy and leadership style.

But, it seemed the government was only in the lurch waiting for the right time to attack and cut the Senator to size. The opportunity came with allegations that he was engaged in gun running alongside some other accused persons who were already in custody. He denied it. Many did not believe it. But the Police declared him wanted for the alleged crime.

When his alleged acolytes in the alleged crime spirited their way out of police custody, Dino got the blame. Police fingers pointed at him. It was obvious that the gates were closing in on him. And they were fully closed when he was prevented from travelling abroad to attend an event in Morocco. He was stopped, to his disbelieve, at the Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport in Abuja.

What started like a badly rehearsed drama, turned out to be the beginning of the silencing of Dino. Unfortunately, many did not dispute his alleged involvement in gun running. While Dino was out of the National Assembly and hibernating in political wilderness, he sought to remain in the consciousness of the nation by occasionally raising allegations of attempts on his life.

On two occasions, he raised allegations that assassins had been sent after him.

Once, he alleged that but for his bullet-proof car, he would have been sprayed with bullets and wasted. On another occasion, he alleged that assassins trailed him while he rode around Abuja city on his powerbike. On both occasions, the Police found no credible leads to the allegations and dismissed them as hoaxes.

Also, using his Anti-Corruption Crusade group, Dino raised several allegations of corruption against officials of state, notably, against a sitting federal attorney general and justice minister. He never moved beyond the accusations and he never proved anything.

And unknown to him, he had created image and credibility problems for himself. These forced a question mark on his allegation that the Police was on his trail because of his virulent attacks on the Presidency.

Many therefore saw his recent travails as deserving mostly because Dino had created image problems for himself for anyone to believe that he was truly altruistic in his criticisms of government. Many also argue that with the attacks on Buhari and leadership of the country, Dino may cleverly be pulling a wool over his clandestine activities which may actually include arming thugs for political reasons –one of the charges for which he is still a captive of the law.

As it is, Dino has made it difficult for members of the public to know if his travails are indeed for speaking out against government, or deserving rewards for his alleged clandestine engagements by his self-destructive activities which had made law enforcement see him more as a rabble-rouser than a genuine campaigner for order in society.

As it is, Dino who hunted the federal government, and wanted the police to join him in hunting those alleged to be after his life, has turned out to be the hunted, now fighting for his freedom from the grips of the law, and his political survival.

By Femi Qudus…

 

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