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Tag: Melaye

  • JUST IN: FG arraigns Melaye over false assassination attempt, gets N100,000 bail

    The Federal Government on Thursday arraigned the Kogi West Senator Dino Melaye before the High Court of the Federal Capital Territory in Abuja on two counts of giving false information about an assassination attempt on his life to the Police in April 2017.

    Melaye was accused of falsely incriminating the Chief of Staff to Governor Yahaya Bello of Kogi State, Mr. Edward Onoja David, in the said assassination attempt.

    The offences were said to be punishable under sections 140 and 393 of the Peal Code Law, Cap. 89, Laws of Northern Nigeria, 1963.

    He pleaded not guilty to the two counts filed against him by the Office of the Attorney-General of the Federation on January 31, 2018.

    Shortly after his plea, his lawyer, Mr. Rickey Tarfa (SAN), moved his bail application filed on February 22, 2018.

    The bail application was opposed by the prosecuting counsel, Mr. Shuaibu Labaran.

    But in her bench ruling, the judge, Justice Olasunbo Goodluck, granted bail to the defendant after dismissing the prosecution’s opposition which she ruled was “based on inadmissible affidavit evidence.”

    The judge granted bail to the defendant in the sum of N100,000, with one surety.

    The judge ruled that the surety to be provided by the senator must be a federal civil servant of at least Grade Level 14 in any federal parastatal or establishment.

    The surety must also provide proof to be a resident of the Federal Capital Territory.

    Melaye was accompanied to the Thursday’s proceedings by about 11 senators, including Senators Ben Murray-Bruce and Shehu Sani.

  • Valentine’s Day drama: Tinubu calls Melaye Saraki’s son at plenary

    There was a mild drama at plenary on Wednesday as three senators appear with a touch of red to mark the annual Valentine’s Day celebration.

    The drama started when Majority Whip, Senator Sola Adeyeye, was calling members of the chamber to order for the session to start properly.

    Adeyeye called the attention of the Senate President, Bukola Saraki, to three senators – Dino Melaye, Oluremi Tinubu and Monsurat Sunmonu – who were in red to reflect the Valentine’s mood.

    Celebrators of the day are usually dressed in red and white.

    The Chief Whip said, “Senator Oluremi Tinubu from Lagos-Central; the original ‘Ajekun iya’ from Kogi-West, Senator Dino Melaye; and from from Oyo-Central, Senator Monsurat Sunmonu are reflecting the Valentine’s spirit. The chamber is now set for today’s session.”

    Opening the session, President of the Senate, Bukola Saraki, said, “Thank you, the Chief Whip, for your observation.”

    Saraki later asked Melaye to move a motion for the adoption of the Votes and Proceedings of the last legislative day (Tuesday).

    Doing so, Melaye said he was moving the motion himself and in collaboration with Tinubu.

    Saraki then asked Tinubu to second the motion, saying, “Ranking Senator Oluremi Tinubu, the Valentine’s of the chamber.”

    Rising to second the motion, Tinubu said, “Mr. President, thank you for inviting me but I should be the one to move the motion because, one, I’m a ranking senator, senior to your beloved son (Melaye).”

    She accused Saraki of being partial as she was the best dressed. According to her, paper from the touch of red on their dresses, her dress particularly had red rose prints on it.

    “If you look at me, I have roses all over but he doesn’t even have a single rose. But since I am not your son, I will still gladly second the motion as ably moved by your beloved son.”

    Melaye was dressed in red jacked, black pant and black bow tie; Tinubu was in a black gown made of Ankara fabric with patches of rose together with a red scalf; Sunmonu was in a formal red dress with black collar.

  • Melaye’s arraignment: Nobody can intimidate Senate – Saraki

    Senate President Bukola Saraki on Tuesday queried the recent actions of the federal government towards members of the National Assembly but insisted that nobody can intimidate the members and leaders from performing their statutory functions.

    Saraki stated this on the floor of the Senate while reacting to a point of order raised by Senator Dino Melaye (Kogi West) on his alleged travails in the hand of the Federal Government.

    He noted that the Senate will continue to defend democracy no matter the cost.

    Saraki, who particularly took a swipe at unnamed Federal Government functionaries, said there was no doubt that their actions were destroying the image of government, instead of helping to shore up its integrity.

    Melaye had drawn the attention of the Senate to what he described as witch-hunting by the Federal Government by suing him for alleged misinforming the police on his “attempted assassination”.

    Saraki said: “Senator Dino Melaye, your points are well noted and I do not see how the issue of arraignment can be a way forward in a matter like this. But be that as it may, I want us all to continue to defend democracy and fight for what is right and I can assure you that this institution will continue to stand for what is right.

    “Those who think that they are helping the government, but sometimes they are doing things that are not in the interest of this democracy. I think they need to do what is right for the interest of all of us. But for sure, what is wrong is wrong. I think those who are looking at this will have a review and do what is right.”

    Melaye, in his point of order, said he has elected to always draw attention to infringements of the law.

    He said he was prepared to pay the supreme sacrifice, if need be in the defence of democracy.

    The Kogi West senator insisted that if his trial was meant to stop him from speaking out, even criticising President Muhammadu Buhari if he did anything wrong, those behind his trial have failed.

    He vowed to use the last drop of his life to fight what he perceived attempts to silence him and stop him from speaking truth to power.

    Melaye said: “If this arraignment in Kogi State is to stop me from criticising the Federal Government, they have committed a capital compound mistake. I shall continue to speak. I shall continue to ask questions. I shall continue to criticise any public officer, including the president of Nigeria, where he has gone wrong.

    “I have conquered fear and I am not afraid of the prison. The last administration arrested me 14 times. The Abacha and Babangida’s governments detained me. I am not afraid of the prison. It is built because of human beings. But we will continue to speak the truth, not minding whose ox is gored.”

    Saraki did not allow debate of the issue Melaye raised because he came under order 43 – personal explanation.

     

  • Assassination attempt: FG drags Melaye to court over false accusation on Kogi Gov’s aide

    The Federal Government has dragged Senator Dino Melaye to court and charged him with giving false information about an assassination attempt on his life to the police in April 2017.

    Melaye was accused of falsely incriminating the Chief of Staff to Governor Yahaya Bello of Kogi State, Mr. Edward David, in the said assassination attempt.

    The Office of the Attorney-General of the Federation filed the charges, marked CR/106/18 before the High Court of the Federal Capital Territory, Abuja on January 31, 2018.

    In the first count, the Kogi West Senator was accused of deliberately giving false information to the police to frame Bello’s Chief of Staff as the mastermind of the assassination attempt on him at his hometown in Ayetoro-Gbede, Kogi State in April last year.

    According to the charges signed by Mr. Magaji Labaran, the police discovered the alleged falsehood in Melaye’s claim while investigating the senator’s assassination claim.

    In the second count, Melaye was accused of making false statement of facts in a phone conversation with Mr. Mohammed Abubakar, a son to the late former Governor of Kogi State, Abubakar Audu, with the intention of harming the reputation of David.

    The offences were said to be punishable under sections 140 and 393 of the Penal Code Law, Cap. 89, Laws of Northern Nigeria, 1963.

  • Again, Senators, Customs CG clash over ‘breach of protocol’

    Again, Senators, Customs CG clash over ‘breach of protocol’

    …as senators shun photo session with Customs leadership

    What was meant to be a routine oversight visit by the senators on Monday nearly turned chaos as the visiting senators and the Comptroller General (CG) of the Nigeria Customs Service, Colonel Hameed Ali (retd.) had misunderstandings over acceptable protocols at NCS headquarters in Abuja.

    The Senate and Col. Ali had a long row over his refusal to appear before the upper chamber in uniform.

    The drama was triggered by remarks made by the Chairman, ad- hoc committee on “Economic Waste in the Nigerian Customs Service”, Senator Dino Melaye, over the manner in which the Senate delegation was received at the Customs office.

    Melaye noted that Col. Ali, by way of protocol, should have come down from his office to welcome the committee members into the premises.

    The Kogi West lawmaker said it was a breach of protocol for the CG to casually meet the delegation at the conference room.

    Melaye noted that ushering in the senators had been the practice with statutory bodies, such as Immigration, Prisons and others, over the years.

    He wondered why such established etiquette, which he said was the norm under previous Customs CGs was not accorded the committee by Col. Ali.

    Melaye said, “Before reading the prepared speech of the committee, let me make this small remark on what we have just observed here in form of breach of protocols.

    “Mr CG, rather than meeting us here at the conference room by way of courtesy, you are supposed to have met us at the ground floor on arrival into the premises.

    “That has been the practice of statutory bodies headed by Chief Executive Officers like you. Relevant Senate committees have over the years been accorded this by bosses of Immigration Service, Prison Service and others, making us to wonder why it is not so here today under your leadership.

    “Therefore, before proceeding further, on account of this observation , we want the Customs management to know that the presence of this committee before it implies that the Senate itself is before it to put things in order as regards the economic waste taking place in the Customs Service requiring the seriousness it deserves from you and the entire management.”

    Melaye insisted that the committee’s meeting with the Customs management was more or less that of the Senate.

    Apparently to indicate that the Senate was sitting, Melaye hit the gavel on the table to declare the meeting open.

    He read a speech to outline how the committee would carry out its investigation on the alleged economic waste in the Customs Service.

    In a counter attack, the Customs CG told the Senate delegation that the NCS has its own protocol, which is different from other public establishments.

    Col. Ali told the committee that the NCS would not want to be dictated to on matters of etiquette and protocol.

    He said: “We have our own protocol as regards receiving visitors like you. I don’t need to come downstairs to receive you just as nobody in the Senate or House of Representatives has ever come out to receive us anytime we visit the National Assembly.

    “So, there is no breach of protocol for not coming down to welcome you since appropriate officers have been assigned to do so. Our protocol is our protocol and should be allowed to be.

    “In fact, by way of etiquette, it is the committee that is supposed to come to my office first on arrival and not just come straight to the conference room.

    “Let me state clearly that we in the Nigeria Customs Service are servants of the people. We believe in Nigeria and working with others to make it great without being railroaded in anyway.

    “Personally, I took this job because of my commitment to serve this country selflessly, having earlier done so in the military. So, nobody can tell me that I’m not a committed Nigerian.

    “On your assignment you called economic waste, we shall cooperate with you to unearth whatever you want to unearth and effect any correction if there is any.”

    The Senate committee, which appeared not to be satisfied with Col. Ali’s reply, boycotted a group photograph organised by the Customs.

    As the visitors got set to leave the premises, they found that the Customs boss’ convoy was obstructing them – an action which they thought was deliberate. There was no official comment on this last night.

    While the Customs boss left the headquarters at about 2:15pm with his siren blaring convoy, the senators team left around 2:20pm after staying in their bus for about 15 minutes.

    Other lawmakers in the delegation are: Samuel Anyanwu (Imo East), Gilbert Nnaji ( Enugu East), Hamman Isah Misau ( Bauchi Central) and Babajide Omoworare ( Osun East).

  • I saw Gov Yahaya Bello in prison uniform – Melaye

    Senator Dino Melaye (APC-Kogi West) has disclosed that he saw Kogi State Governor, Yahaya Bello, in a well decorated embroidered prison uniform in his dream.

    The lawmaker was responding to a threat by Governor Bello, that many members of the National Assembly will not be re-elected in 2019.

    In a video on his Instagram page, Melaye said: “I begin to ask myself why will any intellectually mobile character, sound and sane, speak like that.

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    “And if anyone wants to talk like that, it’s not a man that has commited electoral fraud, who is awaiting trial and obviously will soon go to prison. ”

    “And I had a dream recently where I saw Yahya Bello’s prison uniform specially decorated with embroidery, so I’ll be shocked that Yahya is already threatening people not to come back because, he’s not a voter in Kogi State.

    “Secondly, he cannot contest elections in Kogi State come 2019.”

    A post shared by Dino Melaye (@dinomelaye) on

  • Melaye condemns sack of Kogi workers, says it is ‘illegal, unacceptable’

    …Urges affected civil servants to seek redress in court

    Senator representing Kogi West Senatorial District, Dino Melaye on Tuesday condemned the state government’s recent sack of some civil servants in the state.

    TheNewsGuru.com reports that the Kogi State Government on Sunday confirmed the compulsory retirement of eight permanent secretaries, some directors and dismissal of 1, 774 others from the state civil service.

    However, Melaye, one of the three senators from the state who is known for his open disagreements with Governor Yahaya Bello in a swift reaction condemned the mass sack insisting it was anti-people.

    Melaye stated this in a statement he personally signed and forwarded to TheNewsGuru.com for publication.

    The outspoken senator, however, urged the affected civil servants to seek redress from a competent law court.

    The statement reads in full:

    The indiscriminate sacking of workers has now become a pastime for Yahaya Bello in Kogi State – a state that has been turned to a Civil Service State owing to the dearth of ideas to turnaround the fortunes of the state for development, productivity and sustainability.

    The latest of Yahaya Bello’s unnecessary war against the civil servants in Kogi State was delivered in a garb of a report by a Staff Screening, Validation and Appeal Committee, which recommended outright dismissal and prosecution of 1,667 workers cutting across ministries, departments and agencies of the state government (MDAs) on the spurious allegation of certificate forgery.

    On Monday, January 8 and Tuesday, January 9, a national daily carried a two-part paid advertorial containing the names of the indicted civil servants and in the words of the committee, they were “indicted for breaching Public Service Rules as a result of falsification of academic records.”

    According to the advertorials sponsored by the state government in this hard times, the committee did not avail the public or Kogites of its methodology of coming to the judgment of falsification against the academic certificates of the said workers.

    For the avoidance of doubt, the committee has no power to declare any worker’s academic result(s) fake except a competent court of law. This goes without saying the embarrassment caused the workers, their families and friends, particularly the elderly victims of Yahaya Bello’s charade, who had served the state for decades and rose to the enviable position of a Permanent Secretary.

    This kind of inhuman government has no place in our society and her actions cannot go unchallenged. Consequently, I sympathise with the affected workers and their families while I implore them to go to court immediately to seek redress and clear their names of forgery allegation leveled against by an anti-people government of Kogi.

    For the records, Yahaya Bello claims he obtained a whopping N10 billion Loan to offset salary arrears. This is a lie and it can be easily detected to be so because there was no approval to that effect by the State House of Assembly on one hand and on the other hand the outstanding 15-month salary due to the civil servants in the state as at today puts a lie to the governor’s claim.

    If the immediate past Governor Idris Wada of Kogi can be spending a little over N3 billion as monthly salary of workers during his time and without sacking anybody, how come Yahaya Bello, who had sacked over 3,000 workers since inception, cannot pay staff salaries today?

    It is clear to me that Yahaya Bello is only trying to reduce Kogi State’s monthly salary bill by victimising innocent civil workers in order for him to have more money for frivolities as we are witnessing in the state of recent.

    Therefore, in order to put an end to Yahaya Bello’s unending lies, I challenge him to publish the names of workers paid their full salaries for the month of December 2017 and the names of banks used in the payment. I also challenge him to a public debate on the state of affairs of our dear Kogi State.

     

  • Photos from Melaye’s ‘Pirates of the Caribbean’ birthday

    Over the weekend, Senator representing Kogi West, Sen. Dino Melaye celebrated his birthday by holding a grand party, during which he costumed self as Jack Sparrow, one of the famous characters in Pirates of the Caribbean, a series of American fantasy swashbuckler films produced by Jerry Bruckheimer.

    Veteran singer, Majek Fashek, comedian, AY and other Nigerian celebrities were very much around to entertain guests at the birthday party, which was held at Melaye’s house in Kogi State. See photos below…

  • Melaye, family hold thanksgiving to mark Birthday, New Year celebrations

    Senator representing Kogi West Senatorial District, Dino Melaye will on Sunday (tomorrow) along with his family members hold a special thanksgiving service to mark his Birthday and the New Year.

    This was revealed in a statement signed and released on Saturday by the Senator.

    Read full statement below:

    “The year 2017 has come and gone with its social, economic and political turbulences. Many were blown away, many were injured and many remain unshaken in the turbulent year up till the New Year 2018 – this is not by our might or any other power save for the mercy of one and only God.

    As a living testimony of God’s immeasurable love for mankind since my birth and as sanctioned by the Holy Bible in the book of 1 Thessalonians 5:18, “In every thing give thanks: for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus concerning you.” – that in whatever condition we find ourselves, we should remain grateful to the Almighty God.

    In view of the foregoing and by the special grace of God, I will step out along with my family members for a special Thanksgiving Service in my honour tomorrow, Sunday, January 7, 2018.

    The thanksgiving service, which will commence by 9.30am prompt, will take place at the Redeemed Christian Church of God (RCCG), Central Parish located on Aminu Kano Crescent by Globalcom office in Wuse 2, Abuja.

    Kindly join us to celebrate God’s faithfulness”.