Southwest All Progressives Congress (APC) Women Leader Chief Kemi Nelson, yesterday chided Senator Dino Melaye (Kogi West) for unruly behaviour at the Senate’s Executive Session.
She said women should condemn the lawmaker’s move to intimidate his colleague, Senator Oluremi Tinubu (Lagos Central), during the meeting, stressing that it was “distasteful, hooliganistic and an affront against Nigerian women”.
Lagos APC leaders, including Prince Oluyole Olusi and members of the House of Assembly, also flayed the legislator from Kogi State, describing him as “a big shame” to the National Assembly.
Mrs Nelson, who doubles as the Lagos APC Women Leader, said Melaye, who sprang up from his seat and charged at Mrs Tinubu, would have physically assaulted the woman, whose comment at the meeting was laced with utmost decorum.
Urging party leaders to call Melaye to order, the women leader said he is expected to personify decency in every sphere of his life, both within and outside the Senate.
Mrs Nelson added: “He (Melaye) should remember that the privilege of his election into the Senate on the ticket of the All Progressives Congress (APC) came because the electorate of his Kogi senatorial constituency believed that his current association with the APC implied his attainment of higher moral grounds than what he had exhibited when he was in the Peoples’ Democratic Party (PDP) as a member of the House of Representatives.
“Dino’s excesses since the inauguration of the Eighth Assembly have now exposed him to not just his Kogi State senatorial constituency, but indeed to all Nigerian women (and men too) that his rejection at the polls in 2011 were after all very well-reasoned by even his old PDP constituency.
“The nation cannot afford the likes of unruly Dino among our lawmakers. The reported reconciliation of Senator OluremiTinubu with Dino before the executive session ended was not enough. A leopard can never change its spot; Dino needs to be urgently tamed before he becomes a roasted fish that cannot be remoulded.
“All Nigerian women are enjoined to condemn Dino Melaye’s misconduct, because women could do a lot better than we currently do without Dino’s likes making laws for us.”
Lagos APC leaders, in a statement by Olusi, Lagos Central leader, Fuad Oki, Vice Chairman (Lagos Central) and Hakeem Bamgbola, the state secretary, condemned the attack on Mrs. Tinubu by Melaye, saying that it lacked justification.
Noting the division in the Upper Legislative Chambers, the leaders said they supported senators working for the larger interest of the country and pushing for reforms that will usher in a new society.
According to them, the derogatory attack on Mrs. Tinubu, who is a ranking senator, was condemnable.
The chieftains called for an investigation into the incident to unravel Melaye’s motives and apply the appropriate sanctions to prevent future attacks.
The statement added: “The founding fathers of our democracy left behind a tradition of discipline, decorum and selfless patriotism. We hope the 8th Senate will uphold this tradition.
“We stand behind Senator Oluremi Tinubu and firmly support her activities in the Senate. We salute her courage and consistent defence of democratic principles and the rule of law. Senator Oluremi Tinubu, a ranking Senator, has a tradition of speaking truth to power and never one to be cowed. Lagos State regards Senator Dino’s attack as an affront on Lagosians and its political leadership.”
Lagos APC Publicity Secretaty Comrade Joe Igbokwe said Melaye “needed a psychiatric doctor to examine the state of his mind”. He urged the senator to apologise to Mrs. Tinubu and turn a new leaf.
He added: “Senator Dino Melaye has been in the news in the Senate of the Federal Republic of Nigeria for the wrong reasons. His actions and deeds in recent times have contributed in no uncertain terms to various setbacks we have witnessed in the Eighth Senate since its inception on June 9 2015.
“The hallowed chamber of the Senate is a prestigious place for the serious-minded, cerebral men and women, men and women of honour and integrity, those who can hold their heads when others are losing theirs, experienced but humble men and women. It is not for lunatics, rascals, street urchins, ethically challenged bigots or integrity challenged charlatans.
“Melaye has reached a point of diminishing returns. The unstable and funny man from Kogi State has reached a point where there is no other place to go but to go down irretrievably. He can only go down with his likes and not with our own Senator Oluremi Tinubu, the highly revered, honoured and distinguished wife of our National leader, His Excellency Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu.
“Lagos APC wants Dino Melaye to move quickly to apologise to Senator Oluremi Tinubu and her beloved husband, Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu, and have the statement credited to him withdrawn without any further delay.”
A member of the Lagos House of Assembly, Hon. Segun Olulade, described Melaye as a big shame to the legislature.
Olulade, who represents Epe Constituency 11, wondered why the senator could threaten to beat up another man’s wife, adding that it smacked of immaturity.
The lawmaker said in a statement: “Any responsible individual that is truly worthy to be called a Senator, a position that convokes respect, decorum and decent public conduct, should be able to manage his temper and anger. The fact that one is a Senator does not impose lunacy on the fellow to disparage others.
“Dino has exposed himself as a simpleton and a court jester, whose words and tactlessness cannot be taken seriously by mature people. With this recent action by Senator Melaye, he has so descended to a ridiculous level, thus displaying to the whole world his unworthiness to sit in the hallowed chambers of the Nigerian Senate.”