We are practicing democracy and thus the the arms of government must be seen to be independent and sufficiently empowered to check and balance each other.
The Judiciary and the Legislature must not be seen as being in bed with the executive. They must not be seen to be blind, mindlessly, hailing cheerleaders to the executive. For this, I have utmost respect and admiration for the Senate President. Bukola Saraki’s National Assembly.
I would love a democracy:
a) where if the Chief Justice of Nigeria sneezes, everybody feels a chill up their spine.
b) where if the Senate President /Nass Leaderships coughs, the executive catches flu out of fear of what is to come
In that way, good governance can be insured and we Nigerians will be better off.
I hate what has happened at the state levels where the Governors are virtual emperors and the State Legislatures are mere rubber stamp errand boys who suck up and grovel at the feet of the Emperor Governor. That is not democracy. Let us build democratic values.
The US state department have adjudged this Present Administration as the worse so (in democratic culture)– we have had so far in this our democratic dispensation. Their report came at an inauspicious time when the President is due to visit U. S. They are passing a veiled diplomatic message to this government that “you are a disaster democratically”. Why is nobody getting this point?
Why all these talk?
The reasons are simple! The horrendous mistreatment of Dino Melaye, a serving senator is a cause for concern. If a Senator of the Federal Republic of Nigeria can be treated in this manner and supposedly young enlightened Nigerians are hailing the onset of fascist dictatorship in our country, then I have a huge cause to worry.
It is obvious APC is turning out to be a party that doesn’t value it’s assets and unappreciates democracy. APC is like a naïve young Lioness that eats her cubs.
As I said somewhere else, Dino Melaye is a young man who has risen so fast, faster than how he can manage his success hence his reflexes reflects a poor management of sudden success syndrome.
If at his age he is a Senator of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, a position hitherto meant for old recycled millitary men, and ex governors, then from my own estimation, that man should be respected.
Irrespective of political affiliation, Dino Melaye has been the most consistent whistle Blower and anti corruption Campaigner in the National Assembly since the advent of Democracy .
The records are there:
a) In 2010, the 2nd Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport Runway Contract awarded at the sum of N64 billion to Julius Berger was cancelled after Dino Melaye revealed the fraud that characterized the contract.
b) In the same year, the same Melaye and other members of the House of Reps revealed to Nigerians how the then Speaker, Dimeji Bankole embezzled and misappropriated over $59 million between 2008 and 2009.
c) He was beaten , his clothes torn and almost stripped on the floor of the House in the full glare of cameras. He was later suspended from the House. Some of us still remember what became of Dimeji Bankole.
All these while, Dino was a member of the ruling party PDP.
d) Now as a member of the APC, Senator Dino Melaye has been a better and most vibrant opposition to his own party and the Presidency, more than all the PDP Senators put together.
It was through Dino Melaye and Shehu Sani that Nigerians got to know about the “grasscutters” awarding contracts to themselves and embezzling the money in the Presidency while Buhari was busy defending the stench of corruption of his SGF, the stench of deaths pervading the IDP Camps rose to heaven.
In all these , I cannot recall any corruption charge or allegation against Dino Melaye that we know of since he should naturally be a target because of his activism and brand of politics.
Don’t get me wrong! Dino Melaye is not a saint . I don’t like him and I have had the opportunity to tell him that when I bumped into him years back at the airport.
I detect a great dose of envy from most young people on Social Media poking fun at Dino Milaye on his travails in the hands of the emperor that runs his state.
Instead of us to join the band wagon of detractors and waste internet bundle on Dino’s flaws, hate him or like him, Senator Dino Melaye is a bold young Nigerian we all have a lot to learn from him.
We should learn to take a deep breath and find out how this young man has been able to survive the treacherous murky waters of Nigerian Politics
So, far he has survived the RECALL PROCESS and we wait to see how the criminal persecution in the mold of prosecution would pan out.
The Case is laughable and whatever happens, we should bear in mind he has every right to fear for his safety at his home state, not when you are in the mouth of an unfriendly Lion in the mold of a malevolent emperor of Kogi state.
In as much as I don’t like him, he is a young Nigerian Politician in my age group whose strengths out-ranks his flaws so he has earned a little bit of my respect.
For me, I have since resolved to look towards our future as to what it brings to us. Let us not allow our sentiments becloud and build a Frankenstein monsters we will find so hard to tame.
