Embattled Senator Dino
Melaye, has spoken out from abroad after reports emerged on him fleeing Nigeria
and vowed not to return until there is a new government at the federal level as
well as a new one in his home state of Kogi.
Relying on sources,
SaharaReporters on Saturday, reported that the embattled Kogi West Senator,
Dino Melaye, fled Nigeria, and is prepared not to return until there is a
change of government at the federal level and his state, Kogi.
According to the
publication, Melaye also warned the Senate President, Bukola Saraki, and other
senators to fight for him, failure of which he would bring down at least 30
senators, adding that the lawmakers held a meeting Saturday afternoon to
discuss the threat, while slating another for later in the day.
In a swift reaction to
the story, Senator Melaye, in a statement sent to PREMIUM Times late on
Saturday, said he had no reason to flee the country, and accused Sahara
Reporters which published the report, of spearheading a blackmail against him.
The lawmaker who said the
report was not true, however, did not give details of his engagement outside
the country, having confirmed in a letter on Friday that he was abroad. He also
did not state when he plans to return to Nigeria.
“For the records, I did
not flee Nigeria and have no reason to flee my country leaving behind my family
as the online paper wants Nigerians to believe. My attention was drawn to their
lies this night, hence this public statement, lest the unsuspecting members of
the public and my supporters believe the lies by Omoyele Sowore as directed by
his new paymasters,” he said.
He said the report was
meant to cause disharmony within the senate. “The lies in the SaharaReporters’
so-called news report is nothing but to cause serious disharmony in the senate
and among united majority senators, who are resolute in defending democracy and
its institutions no matter whose ox is gored.”
Earlier on Friday, in a
five-page letter written by his counsel, Rickey Tarfa, Senator Melaye asked the
Inspector General of Police, Ibrahim Idris, to intervene in the rough
relationship he is having with police officers.
The lawmaker said he was
ready to submit himself to the police on the condition that he is investigated by
police officers from Abuja, and not Kogi.
In his Saturday
statement, he attacked the police again, saying the force never invited him for
questioning. In the letter, Senator Melaye said Governor Yahaya Bello of Kogi
had perfected plans to “arrest and detain him, and then murder him in prison
while he is awaiting trial.”
In the Saturday statement
however, he accused the police of being culpable in hatching the plan. “For the
avoidance of doubt, I have not received any court summon either in person or by
proxy in my house or office for me to appear on March 28 as being insinuated by
the police regarding the latest allegation against me.
“Last Monday’s
stage-managed parade of crime suspects in Lokoja by the Force Public Relations
Officer, Mr Jimoh Moshood, where a suspect was tutored to implicate me is just
a continuation and expansion of the police attempt to have me arrested at all
cost and ultimately kill me.”
“The public will recall
that on Thursday, March 1, 2018 when the Federal Government arraigned me for
allegedly given “false information” to the police in a case of failed
assassination plot against me, at the FCT High Court in Maitama, Abuja, SARS
operatives from Kogi State Police Command laid siege on the court premises in
order to prevent me from enjoying my bail with the intention to kidnap me to
Lokoja to be poisoned, although it turned out to be another failed attempt on
my life.
“It is worrisome that the
Police Headquarters has got itself entangled in the Kogi political crisis and
has taken side. It is however bizarre and unprecedented that the FPRO, Mr. Moshood,
will have to travel to Lokoja last Monday in order to act a script written by
Governor Bello. A discerning mind will ask that, how many times has Mr. Moshood
travel to Sokoto, Enugu or Lagos to parade suspects on behalf of a Police
Commissioner?”
Senator Melaye said he
has taken up the issue “with the international community in order to report
this undue intimidation and harassment.”
Apart from his problems
with the police, Senator Melaye faces a recall from the senate as the electoral
commission, INEC, on Friday, released a new timetable for his recall which had
been stalled since last year based on a High Court ruling.
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