Between Dino Melaye’s Unclean Hands and His Anti-Corruption Crusade

Since the inauguration of the present administration led by President Muhammadu Buhari, one undeniable fact is that there has been a renewed effort to fight corruption courtesy of the immense will President Buhari has brought to bear on the anti-graft agencies. Investigations against high-profile who are or were in government have been opened by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) and the Independent Corrupt Practices Commission (ICPC) with a number of these cases in court.

Taking its cue from this political will, the Senate Committee on the Federal Capital Territory led by Senator Dino Melaye (APC – Kogi West) has announced its intentions to probe all past ministers of the FCT over allegations of improper land allocations. At a press conference, Senator Melaye presented pictures of what he claimed are a distorted masterplan due to land-grabbing by high-profile members of past governments, specifically mentioning members of the last administration such as President Goodluck Jonathan; former FCT Minister, Senator Bala Mohammed; former Attorney-General, Mohammed Bello Adoke; former Bauchi State governor, Isah Yuguda amongst others.



While the intentions of the senate committee are commendable, I believe it is important to cast a light on its chairman, Senator Melaye who shot to infamy when, like a street thug rather than a honorable member of the House of Representatives, fought on the floor of the House in 2010 while challenging then Speaker, Dimeji Bankole over the purchase of cars for the members. Once again, he seemed like he was championing a laudable cause, but his true motivation was bitterness on having been removed as the Chairman of the House Committee on Information and National Orientation, which is considered a juicy committee due to the number of parastatals under the ministry it has oversight on – an avenue for corruption through the collection of kickbacks and contracts.

Senator Melaye, during the four years he spent in the political wilderness before returning to the National Assembly, this time as a senator in 2015, became a self-styled activist, when he ran an organization called Anti-Corruption Network. This network which is devoid of any organizational structure and has gone underground since his election as a senator, was in the forefront of calling for the sack and prosecution of former Aviation Minister (and briefly his colleague in the Senate) Stella Oduah over the purchase of 2 BMW cars for N255m.

However, during this period, Senator Melaye, with no discernible source of income, has been living a life that is obviously far above what he ought to have earned legally from being in the House of Representatives for four years. With a rather immature penchant for showing off the things he owns on social media, he has over 15 luxury cars, including a Rolls-Royce Wraith (worth N89 million and owned only by the super-rich and celebrities),a Range Rover, a Porsche Panamera (worth $80, 000), a Lamborghini Murcielago (worth $400, 000), a Mercedes Benz G Wagon ($100,000) and many others. He also bought a house in the exclusive Maitama District worth N1.3 billion.

Not stopping there, in clear violation of the law that prohibits elected and public officials from operating foreign bank accounts, Senator Melaye owns an account with the Chase Manhattan Bank in New York. The CampusEdge account, opened in the name of a Daniel D. Melaye claiming to be a student, was used to pay for the removal of a tattoo which read, ‘Alero’, the name of Senator Melaye’s former wife and a victim of his domestic violence (as was with his first wife).

Bank-Statement-and-Details-of-Dino-Melaye-Released-By-Sahara-Reporters dino-melaye-bank-of-america-account

It took the eagle-eyed vigilance of citizen journalism site, Sahara Reporters to break this news, complete with evidence. Little wonder then that Senator Melaye was in the forefront of the passing of the Frivolous Public Petitions Bill with the controversial clause that prescribed harsh punishment of 2 years for those who make ‘false postings’ online, a clear attempt at muzzling social media, mentioning Sahara Reporters on the Senate floor and accusing them of spreading falsehood. Ironically, Sahara Reporters used to be a darling of Senator Melaye, even posting pictures of himself in their New York office and lavishing praises on them.

This is not the first time that a vigilant blog or news site has exposed the criminal activities or lies of Senator Melaye – in 2013, Senator Melaye claimed that there was an assassination attempt on his life courtesy of his persistent insistence that Mrs. Oduah be tried for corruption in the BMW scandal. It took the vigilance of a blog, The Scoop which exposed the fact that the said assassination attempt was nothing more than a figment of Senator Melaye’s imagination or the product of chemical-influenced hallucinations. Again, no wonder now that he is in the power to make laws, he had his eyes set on robbing citizens of their freedom of expression and ending citizen journalism which seems to be his albatross as they have consistently exposed his lies and activities.

It is about time that the EFCC and the Code of Conduct Bureau commenced investigations of Senator Melaye for money laundering and illegal operation of foreign bank accounts. The Buhari administration has promised that nobody is above the law – the onus is on it to walk that talk by giving the anti-graft agencies the political backing to investigate persons in government, even members of the ruling party such as Senator Melaye.

This is not just my opinion, but also that of about 1500 people, according to this online poll.

He who comes to equity must come with clean hands. Right now, Senator Melaye’s hands are far from being clean. Like the popular saying goes he who has glass house should not throw stones.

At this point we are calling on the EFCC to Probe Senator Melaye and let Nigerians know the source of his wealth, we believe in the EFCC but with the way things are going it show that they are investigating selected politicians and leaving the rest to steal more money hiding behind the umbrella of fighting corruption. Nigerians will not be fooled or manipulated till Dino Melaye and other APC agents are probed by the EFCC we consider their rules and law void. NO ONE IS ABOVE THE LAW

http://expose.com.ng/index.php/2016/02/13/between-dino-melayes-unclean-hands-and-his-anti-corruption-crusade/

I no wan comment about this Dino guy jare, him be foool

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