Dino Melaye: Unveiling the mask

In from Timothy Enietan-Matthews (Nation’ capital) . . .
When Dino Melaye, Senator representing Kogi West Senatorial District, was announced winner of the March 28 election, not a few people in his constituency were shocked, while some were visibly angry.
The reasons for their anger or shock are not farfetched.
Dino Melaye contested against two other candidates who some felt would have been better placed to represent the people of Kogi West. Senator Smart Adeyemi, a two term member of the Red Chamber stood for re-election on the platform of the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP while Otunba Samuel Bamidele Aro, a former member of the House of Representatives, was the candidate of the Accord Party.
For those who know and understand the politics of Kogi West, Melaye does not come close to the other gentlemen on the ground of popularity, acceptance and political pedigree, but thanks to the Buhari tsunami, the now distinguished Senator coasted to victory with the votes coming from the Lokoja/Kortokarfi area of the district after he had been roundly rejected by his own Yoruba speaking people.
The Okun people of Kogi State are proud people, intelligent and urbane in their world outlook. So having a Dino Melaye as Senator was not their thinking at all.
The people of Kabba/Bunu/Ijumu federal Constituency are still smarting from what they described as the disaster and embarrassment of the Senator’s four year stint at the House of Representatives.
During his time at the lower house of the National Assembly, the Senator acquired so much notoriety largely on account of his violent disposition to issues, leading to a physical scuffle that gave the good and peace loving people of Okun land a bad name before Nigerians.
Some who were aware of how he got to the hallowed chambers of the House of Representatives, were not surprised by Melaye’s disposition at the green chambers. They argue that he is a man given to violence and lack of respect for due process.
Many felt that he introduced thuggery and violence into the electoral process in his native Ayetoro Gbede, and that he came into the election with a siege mentality and was determined to get victory by every means.
Not done, the victorious Dino, in a victory parade, stood in front of the palace of the traditional ruler of the town, the late Oba Johnson Akanmode, a man who presided over the affairs of the town for over forty years and saw the then sleepy village to a bustling town that has become a pride to its people, and allegedly rained insults on him.
The only crime of the revered traditional ruler, whose son was deputy chief of staff at the presidency for eight years, was that another of his sons, Richard Akanmode, the current deputy Chief of Staff in Kogi State, contested election against him. Such is the person of our distinguished Senator.
The people of Kogi West have been asking themselves what impact Melaye’s tenure has made on them and how well has he represented them?
The only thing that is visible about the Senator is his love for the good life and outlandish lifestyle; his love for fast cars and grand mansions in posh areas of Abuja.

Read also: Tribunal may order rerun in election of Dino Melaye

Nigerians were shocked recently when a high end Rolls Royce luxury car was displayed on the Internet by an online portal as Senator Dino Malaye’s latest acquisition. Before then, an aide of the Senator also posted grand pictures of a luxurious mansion in highbrow Maitama as his new abode.
It beats the imagination why an elected representative of highly impoverished people will take pride in showcasing such acquisition on the Internet, without stopping to think that Nigerians will one day ask questions about the source of the money used in acquiring them.
For a man who many claim has never in his life done any meaningful paid job or business except politics, one is tempted to ask questions.
However, reports have it that the Senator may just be another Nigerian who lives false lives of affluence.
There are reports that the much publicised Rolls Royce has been retrieved from him because he could not meet the requirements of the acquisition. Also there are reports that the Maitama mansion, allegedly valued at N750 million, may be recovered from him as he has also allegedly not met up with the about N600 million balance on the property.
What has however irked Senator Melaye’s constituents the more is the ignorance and misrepresentation of facts displayed by him on the issue of the management of the Treasury Single Account, TSA and the online payment platform, Remita.
Melaye who had referred to Remita as a company instead of a software, informed the Senate that Remita got N25bn in a day for doing nothing. The company, Systemspecs, CBN and the Federal Government through the Minister of Information, Lai Mohammed, have since debunked the allegations.
One analyst posited that if the Senator had been more painstaking and researched the subject of his motion properly, he and his constituents would have been saved the embarrassment he caused. “But then, when lazy brains are elected to positions and they also surround themselves with equally lazy brains, you cannot get anything different” he noted.

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