This is what happened after senator jumped from police truck
When Dino Melaye jumped from the window of a police truck, a mild drama ensued. We made a story out of all that.
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Before you could say 'Ajekun Iya', the lawmaker who represents Kogi West in the upper legislative chamber, had jumped from the window of the truckand landed with a thud on the warm, hard floor.
It was a fall that would see him being wheeled to a hospital ward on a stretcher, unconscious.
He was wearing a black shirt on black pants. On his head perched a black face cap. He had pink socks on and looked every bit like he was heading for combat.
As soon as he landed from the truck, the police say Melaye headed into the arms of hoodlums who spirited him to an undisclosed location and then to hospital.
'I will kill myself'
But before Melaye was taken to hospital, he was caught on camera sitting on the floor and threatening to take his own life.
Eyewitnesses record the venue of the drama as Area One, Abuja.
“I will kill myself and put all of you in trouble,”Melaye blared to the police who were keeping an eagle eye on him.
Around him, a crowd had formed. A frenzied, manic crowd.
“Can you imagine that they want to carry him away without even telling us?”, one of Melaye’s associates thundered. “Take him to court, you are taking him to Lokoja”.
“You want to go and kill him there?”, another angry man thundered. Melaye sat on the floor the whole time, wagging an angry finger this way and that.
He was sweating in the sultry Abuja temperatures as the crowd grew.
“Which court do you want to meet in Lokoja at this time?”, Melaye asked the police officers.
“They want to poison you”, someone alleged from the crowd.
“If you want to kill him, you can kill him here”.
“They want to inject him…”
“We are Nigerians, we are not from Ghana….”
As the voices raged and bayed for blood, Melaye who had now worn himself out from the jump and from shouting at the top of his lungs on the floor, began breathing heavily and shaking his head in incandescent rage.
He was also looking increasingly crestfallen.
Rearresting Melaye
According to police spokesperson Jimoh Moshood, men of the Nigeria police trailed “Senator Dino Melaye to Zankli Hospital, Abuja where he was re-arrested. The senator would be arraigned in court without further delay”.
Melaye’s troubles began when criminal suspectsKabiru Saidu, a.k.a Osama, and Nuhu Salisu, aka Small, were arrested at Ogojueje in Dekina Local Government Area of Kogi on January 19, 2018.
Both men told the police that Senator Melaye had hired them to cause unrest in Kogi ahead of the 2019 general elections.
The suspects revealed that the lawmaker handed them a bag containing one AK-47 rifle, two pump action guns and the sum of N430,000 to recruit hardened troublemakers and unleash mayhem in Kogi.
Melaye has denied the allegations in a dance video.
Framing Kogi Chief of Staff
In June of 2017, Melaye was caught on tape boasting about how he framed the suspects in the alleged assassination attempt on his life.
In the tape, Melaye could be heard telling Muhammed Audu, son of late former Governor of Kogi, Abubakar Audu, that he used his connections to frame them.
Audu was also heard telling the senator to mention Edward Onoja, the Chief of Staff to the current Kogi State Governor, Yahaya Bello, adding that it was the only way to bring the government down.
After Melaye was arraigned in March of 2018, he was charged with an attempt to indict Kogi Chief of Staff Onoja. He was granted a N100,000 bail after.
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