by Usman Alabi

The recent drama in the Senate involving Senator Dino Melaye and Senator Oluremi Tinubu is one of the many histrionics that the National Assembly is known for.

Yet there is something peculiar about it with differentiates it from the usual shenanigans, perhaps the fact that it involved the highly controversial and notorious Senator Dino Melaye who has not been a known respecter of the opposite gender and the wife of the bourdillon political strategist and APC leader, Senator Tinubu sets it apart from similar disturbances in the Senate.

Both Senators are APC members but belong to different camps, Melaye is pro Saraki while Remi Tinubu takes a different stand. Oluremi is the wife of the power broker and architect of a new political strategy that saw progressives emerge as ruling party. Melaye on the other hand did not start as a progressive and he belongs to a group that seeks to continue the monopoly of the Senate by former PDP members in the cloak of APC, atleast that is the way the APC leadership view the situation.

This is the internal or below the layer colouration that determined Wednesday’s exchange between the two Senators. But Dino is not a man that gives regard to the opposite gender not even on this issue which he perceived as executive interference in the affairs of the Senate, you would recall that Senator Dino Melaye seconded the nomination of Senator Bukola Saraki as candidate for the office of the President of the Senate following nomination by Ahmad Sani Yerima.

 

Dino’s sharp utterances and practices depicts that he has no iota of respect for the opposite gender beyond the African perception of women as a tool for sexual gratification and keeper of home.

Early, this year Melaye criticized the Edo state governor, Adams Oshiomole for importing his wife who is from Cape Verde rather than marrying a Nigerian, Dino has also been accused of marital infidelity by his wife because of his affairs with the nollywood actress, Bisi Ibidapo Obe who also claimed that Melaye is responsible for her pregnancy. But on wednesday he was alleged to have told Oluremi Tinubu in anger that “look, this is not bourdillon (the Lagos residence of Senator Tinubu’s husband). I will beat you up…Impregnate you and nothing will happen.”

It was also reported that he threatened to kill anyone who showed up to testify against the Senate President and his deputy in the ongoing forgery trial of both. Yet these many sins of Melaye is an indication of the quality of minds that bestride our hallowed red chamber, for Melaye is only an example of many. Recently, United States accused three of our honourables of sexually harassing ladies in the hotel when they paid a visit to United States on official assignment. In other climes Melaye and these three other honourables would have themselves to blame for their inability to control or lead themselves and their disrespect for the female gender.

The National Assembly should be populated by men and women of impeccable character, people who do not feel that there is a difference between what they do privately in their personal lives and what they display in public.

Adam Smith said that what is prudent in the conduct of a household is scarce a folly in the conduct of a great kingdom, but in Nigeria, the case is different. How do we talk about equality, equity if we have the likes of Melaye in our national assembly, how do we talk about respect for all irrespective of gender if the likes of Dino Melaye feels that there is no place for women, what then shall we say about equal opportunity. How do we wage a colourless and unbias war against corruption if the likes of Melaye thinks that the leadership of the senate should not be touched even if there are evidences of corrupt practices against them? How did we descend so low to have leaders who cannot exercise self control nor lead themselves which has led them to washing their dirty linen outside? This, of course, has given the country bad public relation.

These many sins of Senator Melaye and that of three honourables allegedly accused of sexual harassment does not leave us innocent, for if we have put them in position with our votes, it also shows that we, the electorates require a revolution of the mind. The sins of Dino made us guilty of putting mediocrity and selfishness ahead of selflessness and merit. Until, the electorates take a rethink and begin to consider the quality of representation and representatives ahead of immediate benefits, the tragicomedy of Wednesday would not be the last because the likes of Melaye would continue to remain in our hallowed chambers.

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