'The Dino Melaye I saw couldn't speak', senator says

Senator Shehu Sani who represents Kaduna central in the upper legislative chamber, was among the lawmakers who visited Senator Dino Melaye at the National Hospital, Abuja, on Wednesday, April 25, 2018. Afterwards, Sani said Melaye couldnt even open his mouth to speak.

Melaye was hospitalized after sustaining injuries when he jumped off a moving police van in a bid to evade arrest.

The senator was being conveyed to Kogi by the police for arraignment.

The senator has been in the custody of the police all week for charges bordering on illegal possession of firearms and false testimony.

He was stopped from boarding a flight to Morocco on Monday, April 23, 2018.

Melaye in not-so-stable condition

“I was among the few senators allowed into the intensive care unit of the National Hospital to see distinguished Senator Dino”, Sani said.

“He was not on handcuffs but on drips He was barely able to speak and his neck was bandaged. I’m not a medical doctor or a nurse to conclude whether that means ‘stable or not’. That is the truth.”

Senate President Bukola Saraki told journalists after visiting Melaye that the hospitalized lawmaker is in stable condition.

Saraki also said Melaye hadn’t been given food for 24 hours.

“After the sitting at the Senate today we resolved to come here because over 24 hours we have not heard or known about the state of senator Dino,” Saraki said.

“We've just seen him and he is in intensive care. He's stable for now. We know he hasn't eaten for the last 24 hours, we are trying to resolve that, he's on fluids and he's being seen by cardiologists, by all specialists”, Saraki said.

Melaye speaks

Melaye took to Twitter, Wednesday night, to say some of his family members and staff have also been taken into police custody.

“Samuel Melaye, Moses Melaye, Pastor Obalemo, my driver Folorunsho, one of my lawyers and 7 others arrested since Monday by the police still in detention by the police”, Melaye shared on the social media app.

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“Melaye is at the intensive care unit of the national hospital. Trauma section.

“Denied access to my lawyers, family members and food for the past more than 24hours”, he said.

Persecution

Senator Sani says Melaye is being persecuted because he's been going against the executive arm of government.

Melaye has been locked in an ego battle with his State Governor Yahaya Bello. The senator believes that Bello wants him killed and is behind his current travails.

Bello denies he’s behind Melaye’s troubles, however. The governor says Melaye’s recklessness and poor manners have now caught up with him.