Senator Dino Melaye, representing Kogi West, attracted attention yet again when he reappeared on January 4 after hiding from the police for eight days. He was characteristically dramatic.
A report captured Melaye’s dramatic reappearance: “Prior to his opening the gate for the police, several of his fellow federal lawmakers had driven down to the house to see and accompany him to the Force Headquarters to honour the police invitation. He was also helped out of the car at the police headquarters. At a point, some men put an inhaler to his mouth to help him breathe well. Sources attributed the fainting to possible asthma attack. Not wanting to leave anything to chance, the police took him to an undisclosed hospital for proper treatment.”
The police had besieged Melaye’s Abuja residence. He is wanted for alleged criminal conspiracy and attempted culpable homicide said to have been committed on July 19, 2018. The police said Melaye and some armed thugs had attacked police personnel who were on duty at a checkpoint on Aiyetoro Gbede, Mopa Road in Kogi State. They shot and wounded Sgt. Danjuma Saliu of the 37 Police Mobile Force (PMF). The police siege happened because Melaye had ignored police invitation.
Melaye had claimed, in a pubicised interview, that he wasn’t in Abuja, which was untrue. Melaye had also asked a Federal High Court in Abuja to order the police to end the siege. The court refused to do so.
This isn’t the first time Melaye has ended up in a hospital when faced with the police. In April 2018, Police spokesman Jimoh Moshood said in a statement that Melaye “escaped from lawful custody when hoodlums and miscreants in two Toyota Hilux vehicles blocked the police vehicle conveying him around Area 1 Roundabout, Abuja.”
He added: “In the process, the senator jumped out of the police vehicle through the window and was rescued from the policemen by hoodlums and miscreants to an unknown destination. The Police team reinforced and trailed Senator Dino Melaye to Zankli Hospital, Abuja where he was re-arrested.” After he was re-arrested at the Zankli Hospital, Melaye was moved to the National Hospital, Abuja, where the police reportedly handcuffed him to a bed.
Melaye had been declared wanted by the police after he allegedly ignored an invitation to answer allegations made against him by two suspected criminals, Kabiru Saidu, aka Osama, and Nuhu Salisu, aka Small.
These incidents are bad for Melaye’s image. But it seems he doesn’t give a damn what the public thinks about him.
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