Pulse Opinion Dino Melaye’s nice song didn’t stop PDP from rejecting him

Life can be cruel sometimes.

You drop a hit song, this time celebrating your return to a political party and that political party does its damnest best to put out a statement that says you aren’t welcome anywhere near their camp.

Life is some wet blanket after all, come to think of it.

On Friday, July 6, 2018, the senator who represents Kogi West in the national assembly, rolled out one of his skits with the title ‘bye bye to jati jati’.

This skit was immediately splashed across all of Melaye’s social media pages and before long, Melaye was breaking the Nigerian internet like he often craves.

The lyrics are catchy because it’s a remix of an old nursery rhyme. Let’s allow Melaye do his thing, shall we?

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‘PDP…O my home…O my home/ When shall I see my home? PDP?/ When shall I see my PDP/ I will never forget my home/ When shall I see my home…APC suffer me o/ When shall I see my PDP/ I will never forget my home/'

The skit ends with Melaye’s trademark mocking eyes aimed the way of the APC.

You’d never see a more creative defection announcement. Defections are usually well scripted, boring affairs where politician A stands before the cameras and announces he’s switching camps, with plenty of his followers yelling behind him. Melaye chose a different, stylish, pop culture route.

Except that the PDP wasn’t impressed.

A day after Melaye’s Grammy winning performance, the PDP issued a statement to say the senator is a liability who shouldn’t be touched with a long pole.

“He is seen as too controversial and his unacceptable behaviors are the serious negative views of the public against him. He cannot win any election in a free and fair atmosphere and PDP should therefore not gamble with him as a candidate for now.

“He needs a serious reformation period which PDP Kogi State do not have the luxury of time to dispense”, the PDP said in a statement signed by PDP Kogi West Elders Forum (KWEF) Chairman, Hon. Shaibu Momoh.

Melaye has been openly flirting with the PDPsince he was prevented from flying. He was subsequently slapped with criminal charges in April and May. His travails culminated in Melaye jumping off a moving police truck and winding up injured in hospital for his troubles.

Now that PDP has rejected Melaye, what does he do? My hunch is that Melaye will eventually end up in the PDP because he’s currently burnt all his APC bridges. Melaye is also unlikely to win another election in Kogi from the APC platform because he is at war with the governor of his State.

Melaye’s current term will likely be his last on the APC platform and because he wants to return to the senate in 2019, the singing senator will take his wares to a political party that can best guarantee him an automatic ticket. That party appears to be PDP which may eventually welcome him with open arms.

But it must hurt that the PDP had to embarrass him first. It must really hurt.