Sen Dino Melaye has lost the right to be called 'honorable'

Senator Melaye was on his way to Morocco on Monday, April 23 when he was told by immigration officials that he couldn’t board the flightecause he had made it into INTERPOL’s ‘no fly list’.

Of course Melaye protested and snatched back his travel passport from the officials in a fit of rage. However, the police took over from where immigration stopped and arrested Melaye.

The police then drove Melaye to his luxury home and made sure he didn’t escape, by surrounding the entire apartment.

Melaye was still in police custody when he was driven to the Special Anti-Robbery Squad (SARS) headquarters in Abuja on Tuesday, for grilling.

After questioning, Melaye was then shepherded into a police van en route Kogi, for arraignment.

It was here that some hoodlums drove toward the police van and barricaded the van. In the ensuing melee, Melaye jumped off the van and was driven off by the hoodlums.

Melaye re-arrested

The police say Melaye was traced and re-arrested in hospital.

The senator of the federal republic of Nigeria was found injured from jumping off a police truck. There he sat on the warm, hard floor, daring anyone to come close. It was from this floor that he was wheeled to hospital.

Police spokesperson Jimoh Moshood says: "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 (2) 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 re-enforced and trailed Senator Dino Melaye to Zankli Hospital, Abuja where he was re-arrested. The Senator would be arraigned in court without further delay.

“Meanwhile, one of the Toyota Hilux vehicles used by the hoodlums and miscreants in aiding the escape of the Senator has been recovered by the Police investigation team”.

Why should a 'distinguished' senator try to evade arrest by jumping off a moving truck? Isn't that something louts and thugs should be pulling off?

By pulling off that stunt which was capable of costing him his life, Melaye has lost the right to be addressed as honorable. There's nothing 'honorable' in flying from a moving truck, unless of course you are on the set of a movie.

Possession of firearms

Melaye is in trouble for his alleged involvement in a case of unlawful possession of prohibited firearms.

After criminal suspects Kabiru 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, they told the police that Senator Melaye hired them to cause unrest in the State 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.

Of course Melaye denied the allegations in a viral video. Melaye is so adept at making music videos, the BBC calls him ‘Nigeria’s music video senator’ these days.

A senator who jumps off a moving truck shouldn’t be addressed as honorable or distinguished anymore. Of course Melaye has fought on the floor of parliament before, with his shirt ripped apart in the process. He has shown up on the floor of the senate in an academic gown, just to prove a point.

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He has placed a tray of boiled groundnuts on his head while posing as a hawker. He has danced and sang in viral videos to taunt his political opponents and he has appeared in a commercial rap video, flaunting his bling lifestyle for effect.

On the floor of the senate, he’s often the loudest and most vocal, but he hardly says anything resembling the outpouring of a logical thought process.

Here is a man for whom drama comes naturally, you have to agree he’s in the wrong job.

The right thing for Melaye to have done is prove himself innocent of the charges in court, not fly off a truck to avoid the court altogether. Here is a lawmaker trampling on the basics of the law.

Gov Yahaya Bello having the last laugh

The senator is currently in hospital and may be moved to Lokoja where he’ll be arraigned for illegal possession of firearms. Moving him to Lokoja where the crime allegedly occurred, is one way Kogi Governor Yahaya Bello intends to prove to Melaye that in this battle for political supremacy, he’s having the last laugh. The plan from Bello is to humiliate Melaye and rub the senator's nose in the sand for full measure.

Melaye’s recall will also be restarted in a few days in Kogi, capping off a horrible month for the king of drama.

When Melaye looks back at this month, he’ll agree that even for him, this has been a most dramatic couple of days to top all his previous histrionics.

To paraphrase the senator: “If you jump, you die. If you don’t jump, you die. I, Dino Melaye, have decided to jump and….”

And then he took the plunge from a moving police van. Nothing can be more dishonorable.