By Derenle Animasaun


‘People are taking their comedians seriously, and their politicians as a joke’ -Will Rogers

Now that the dust has settled and the protracted circus that is Dino Melaye, is leaving town, perhaps,Kogi, in particular and the whole country in general will get a worthy lawmaker that cares about the people and not about himself.

Over the years, it has been cringe-worthy watching the train crash, that is Dino. The man fancies himself as an elite, academic and debonair,man about town.

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The trouble is, he really believes he is, God’s gift and the man of the people. The fact is,he ain’t that at all. Well, he has his fans, as he is;loud,brash,flourish and misogynistic.There is something about an empty vessel,but I have no intention kicking the proverbial dog while down. It is just not worth the effort and frankly any action will be lost on him. The showman may feign high blood pressure or worse, he gets on the floor and faints. We don’t want that.

Normal folks, groan at his antics and he laps up the adulation and notoriety like a drug.
He has taken Nigerians in general for a ride,and sadly, many people should question his credentials as a law abiding citizen, talk much less a law maker. His penchant for personalised number plates, fast cars, ill fitted designer wears and outlandish parties are the definition of Dino’s achievements, which, is more the pity. Now, this peacock has the temerity of featuring in a music video, giving the music crew the free use of his home and resources while the musician, Kach was carvoting with a female and singing what seems to be an homage to Dino.

This man has no shame, he simply wants to milk his 60 minutes of fame for all it’s worth.
With the word; “LEGEND” embossed across his wide girth he dances and sings along to his own “music”;
“Balling every day like Ronaldinho. Money spending no aristo. Dino, Dino, Dino Melaye,” sang Kach, while throwing money out of the Rolls Royce. Dino is no superstar, no hero of the downtrodden nor is he an elite as he often refers to himself. Time for this circus to leave town. Kogi West called and they don’t want their clown back.

People do not wish to appear foolish; to avoid the appearance of foolishness, they are willing to remain actually fools. “— Alice Walker

I have written extensively about the same disgraceful display of thuggery of our honourable lawmakers’ men and women, but, they are anything but honourable. Yes, I said it. But there are, a tiny minority who are honourable but the majority have tarred the few with the same brush.

I wrote about in- THIS HOUSE OF DISREPUTE, NOVEMBER 23, 2014:”those that seek evidence that our highest hallowed house accommodates badly behaved and disgraceful men and women, only need to watch the TV and read in the newspapers and bear witness to how uncouth and disgraceful these lawmakers are. For those who are not convinced, I have nothing more to say to them as they have obviously lost their moral compass.

What we saw were grown men behaving like rent-a-mob and scaling the fence to force their way into the inner sanctum of the House”. In Order! order! these dishonourable fellows June 2015 and again in JULY 21, 2013 IN DIRTY, ROTTEN SCOUNDRELS, where there was rancour in the River State assembly. I wrote: “They should hang their heads in shame and accept that what happened on the floor of the assembly was truly despicable, period. If grown men, and I mean, grown men behaved in such thuggish manner, waving the mace and using it as a weapon, what example are they displaying to the young ones. No wonder Nigeria is going to the dogs!”

So here we are again in 2016, if it is to be believed, a senator using language that is unbecoming of the high office. There is no justification to threaten a woman with rape! No justification. What followed for Melaye, supposedly a damage control to put his own side of the story which failed spectacularly? I am appalled that some of the people reacted as if it was nothing or that he was justified. Melaye recounted that Remi Tinubu called him a thug and then, he called her stupid! wow! It was a case of he said, she said. And she called him a dog, and he stood up and told her that “this was not Bourdillion and as he was not one of those senators who normally come to prostrate to them, I am from Kogi and not from Lagos” So he did not deny anything but he said” I am not a coward”

Can someone tell him that it is not what they call you but what you respond to? This is not the way any person should behave talk less a senator. So he charged towards the female senator and had to be held back by other senators, who remonstrates with him to let peace reign. Why did they not tell him that he misbehaved or are they saying that his behaviour was acceptable?
Dino has got his temper which gets the better of him all the time. He is erratic and out of control. No man should be allowed to get away with such behaviour and it is a conduct not becoming of a senator. He has a bully boy mentality and does not know how to hold a civil conversation and resorts to use his fist and putty mouth. He threatened to beat Tinubu up and impregnate her on the floor of the Senate and he boasted that nothing will happen! Why this man is still allowed to walk free?

He has no respect for women. It is typical of him. In one of the run-ins with Governor Oshiomhole, whom he accused the governor of importing his wife instead of marrying one from Nigeria.The Governor replied Melaye that “Any responsible individual that is truly worth to be called a senator, a position that convokes respect, decorum, and decent public conduct, should know the limit of his verbal diarrhoea ”

This fellow had the temerity to protest his innocence, and denied that he did not say that he would rape the female senator”; It is a lie that I said that I will impregnate Mrs. Tinubu. Biologically, it is even impossible to impregnate Mrs. Tinubu because she arrived menopause”

Well, that says it all. It is about time that all lawmakers, actually anyone holding public office should undergo psychological testing.
There is something wrong to think it is right to attack and threaten to rape anyone and think it is justifiable. No woman should have to deal with this criminal behaviour and especially in a country that has one of the highest rate of sexual and physical abuse. No amount of provocation warrants actual threats like this and men like Dino will continue to justify the act of physical or sexual abuse as a provocation.

The fact that such behaviour has been normalised and it is casually downplayed and the sad fact that the like of Dino is a poster boy for such heinous behaviour with no regard for women. So how do we expect the ordinary man in the street to behave when it is seen as normal to threaten a woman with public rape at any form of provocation. An attack on one woman is an attack on all women.

He knows nothing; and he thinks he knows everything. That points clearly to a political career” -George Bernard Shaw

Dino’s world is in free fall, now he is in an ever decreasing circle; he is between a rock and a hard place. He has burnt his bridges and he is a joke. He is an embarrassment to his high office and bad role model to millions of young Nigerians.
And for his sake and for the sake of anything left that is good in Nigeria, it is about time to call a halt to his freakish amateurish theatrics. It was never funny; in fact, it is downright annoying and costly. Anyone who believes Dino is a victim, then, they need a reality check.

Dino Melaye is a person of interest involved for criminal conspiracy and attempted culpable homicide, committed on 19th July, 2018. It is alleged that he and his armed thugs attacked police personnel, shot and wounded Sergeant Danjuma Saliu on stop-and- search duty along Aiyetoro Gbede, Mopa Road in Kogi State.

Dino has a case to answer, if he has nothing to hide then, he should get on with it and should allow for due process.
It is inconceivable that the police laid a siege to Dino’s Abuja for eight days! Dino had the temerity to decline the offer to hand himself in until after a week, but not until the police had cut the power and water supplies to his property.
On surrendering, Dino then slumped and to be supported, feigning ill-health brought about by police mistreatment. This man has form; this is his go to parlour trick.

He was taken to hospital and seen in bed playing the sick patient. Someone please tell this man that he is a poor excuse for a law maker and, no, he cannot be an actor. He is not very unconvincing and Nollywood does not want him.
There is nothing wrong with this evasive malingerer, who simply believes he is above the law. He is all mouth and no action.
The police have advised Dino to stop his malicious attack and that he should desist from “whipping up sentiments to distract the public,” and that Melaye should own up if he had committed any crime or was aware of his involvement in any crime. Words fail me.

You cannot make this up and ordinary citizens should be up in arms that their hard earned taxes are wasted on Dino. He has a case to answer and evading the law is downright unlawful and criminal.

This lawmaker has done irreparable damage to his high office. Anyone who is supporting him and his behaviour, they too should be charged with accessory to pervert the course of justice. They are actively enabling Dino’s bad behaviour.

I do not have much time for the Nigerian police, and right now, it is infuriating that they are bending over backwards to accommodate Dino’s infantile display. The police may reckon that they have to pander to his whims. Why, I wonder, would they have given the same treatment to ordinary Nigerians? I think not. Would the police have been this lenient with a suspect had it not been a so-called big man? No, Nigerian police are not known for their light handedness or undue consideration.

Whoever is pulling the strings that is incapacitating the police, from discharging their duties, are equally liable for what is wrong and unlawful in Nigeria presently.
At some point, the policemen on the siege assignment reportedly numbered 50. Seriously, can the police force afford to take 50 officers off the beat to have sat around Dino’s residence? All this while Dino, was running tweeting commentaries from the comfort of his home and using his family as human shield; ‘there is a plan by the IG to arrest me today and inject me to death. Men deployed already. CP Kogi and others removed. Nigerians watch out”
Dino has got a vivid but an impressive imagination.
It is all a game to Dino. It is time to call time on his behavior.
The police on the hand have responded to his allegations as “mischievous, malicious, laughable and capable of misleading the public.”
The police’s spokesperson, Jimoh Moshood, held that there was no such order from the IGP or any plan by the force to arrest Melaye or inject him to death. Dino has been crying wolf far too many times and it is about time he submitted himself to the due process.
Most importantly, this buffoonery has gone on for far too long. Time to call to order the Dino and Police show.
This can only happen in Nigeria.

The tail should not be wagging the dog. Dino and his acolytes do not get to dictate to the police how to do their job. And the police need to develop a pair and be confident enough to carry on their duties without dancing and jumping through hoops to the mendacity of this man-child.

No, it is not up to Dino. It is up to the police to discharge their duties as they would any citizen, who is a person of interest.
This farce is expensive, very expensive in terms of manpower hours and resources concentrated on Dino. This could be best used for: maintaining public order, enforcing the law and preventing, detecting and investigating criminal activities.
If there is any integrity and common sense left with the police force, it would be helpful that they get on with their job
In a police statement response to Dino: “The Force is categorically stating that the statement is mischievous, malicious, capable of misleading the public and laughable, there was no such order from the Inspector General of Police or any plan by the Force to arrest Senator Dino Melaye and inject him to death but if the Senator knows he had committed any crime or he is aware of his involvement in any crime, he should come out and confess and face the legal consequences instead of whipping up sentiments to distract the public. And it continued;

“The Inspector General of Police will not be distracted by statements from the likes of Senator Dino Melaye but will continue to ensure that the rule of law prevails in all matters.”

The media, also have given too much attention to Dino and he thrives on attention for his notoriety and it is important to reduce this lifeline and mawkish entitlement of a rebel with a cause. Dino is not and was never a cause celebre.
So while Dino continues to play the fool, we must not lose sight with why he is a person of interest.
Justice must be seen to be done; he of all people should know that. But does Dino really know or what’s to know?


