by Alexander O. Onukwue

Dino Melaye, a self-acclaimed democratic evangelist and anti-corruption crusader, has had the rare privilege of being both in the House of Representatives and in the Senate of the Federal Republic of Nigeria. There was some substance to his allegations against then Speaker of the House, Dimeji Bankole, on the matter of discrepancies in appropriations. However, the Melaye way of doing things has only ever led to a melee. He was suspended from that house and not returned in 2011. For a quick comparison, Abdulmumin Jibrin is currently suspended but there is no question about his dignity or being intact, even from outside the chambers.

In 2015, the people of Kogi West decided against returning the two-term Senator Smart Adeyemi to the Senate, opting instead to elevate the same Dino Melaye from his aborted stint in the House. Dino first major act in the Senate was to disrupt the supposed arrangement of the APC for the choice of Senate President by seconding the nomination made by Sani Yerima for Bukola Saraki to be Senate President. It was not a bad thing in itself, but it sure was the sign of where his alliance lay and how he would play his cards in the legislative life of the 8th Senate.

With the Senate President for an ally, Dino has had a conspicuous place of influence in the red chamber. Both have fought and won the battle to confirm the Acting Chairman of the EFCC, Ibrahim Magu. Melaye was a steady defender of the Senate President during the period of his corruption trial at the Code of Conduct Tribunal, and has a written a book on anti-corruption with the Senate President as chief launcher.

More pugnacious have been the matter of his personal and personality credentials which, by most standards of assessment, have been well below average. There was the episode of the alleged threat to Senator Remi Tinubu, firing shots to Oshiomole for importing his wife, the cover-ups about his graduation and number of certificates, and the infamous celebratory jingle he put out from his office to mock his enemies.

There is little evidence to make an argument that the distinguished Senator from Kogi West has been of any pivotal influence in the Senate. His one bill so far has been about tribal marks (yea, really). So no one is really going to feel the absence of Senator Melaye’s mockery of the opportunities he has had to lead so far.

Editor