When Next They Say Dino Is A Dramatist; Ask Who Set The Stage?

As a matter of factly, I believe the prosecutorial authorities, especially the Nigeria Police could have done far better in handling the arrest and prosecution of Senator Dino Melaye for the alleged crime of conspiracy to murder a policeman.

Each time, it appears a stage is being set up for the peculiar senator to act up a scene.

So nobody knew that Dino had been invited by the police since July 2018, until Dino cried out in December 2018 that the police planned to kill him.

Dino, for me, received a poor legal advice not to immediately respond to the police invitation, in whatever way and means possible, even if it meant to challenge it in court.

Waiting till about six months after the invitation was staging a set for a drama and the police ought to have known better

Thus, how could the police be so silent on the invitation to the ebullient and boisterous Senator Melaye?

The Nigeria Police, I can say, currently has a very strong media team who by now are quite familiar with the said natural antics of Senator Melaye.

The police ought to have built up the case for the arrest of Dino by announcing its invitation to him and taking the public through the steps it intends to take or would be taking to bring the senator to justice.

But the police, for months abandoned its invitation to the senator and only appeared to decide to move against him when he was perceived by a section of the public to have committed some political sins against the ruling party and the President.

That perception is a serious detraction from the police actions which began from the siege on the senator’s house.

Dino, in pictures splashed on the social media, is seen sleeping on the ground, in an open compound, attracting pity and depicting a brutal criminal justice system.

So who set the stage, if Dino is at it again? Did he need to be forcefully taken away from the police hospital without the knowledge of the public?

Again, the police failed to build up an unassailable case for the movement of Dino from the hospital, even if it was against his will.

The police ought to have carried the public along with the various applications under the Administration of Criminal Justice Act, leading to confirmation of the health of the accused senator and ultimately by order of court removing him for trial.

But the police quietly obtained an order to remand him and also moved him from the hospital to the surprise of the public.

Transparency and compliance to legal standards are the government’s best means of winning what it perceives as a media onslaught of dramatic shows which depict it in bad light in the eyes of the international community.

In Nigeria, government often forgets that the people are the ultimate in the state. It is the people, to whom all authorities are answerable according to the constitution.

Despite having a people so weak, ignorant, hungry and divided in Nigeria, they must not lose sight of their place in the Nigerian state or else, their bondage will continue.

They must rise up and be united only by the things common to them and not by how different they are from one another.

Suffering, pain, and insecurity are common to everyone. The desire for freedom, liberty and all that makes for a good life are a common aspiration for most Nigerians.

These values and verities should unite the people and make them so strong that the authorities will always respect their will and place in the state.

On a personal note, the other day, I said Dino abandoned me and CASER during the build up to 2018 Human Rights Fiesta. Many thought I will abandon him now that he is going through a turbulent time.

That cannot be true of my person. I was later to be on Seun Okinbaloye’s Politics Today on Channels Television to staunchly defend Dino after he surrendered to the police.

I attempted to justify his fears in the hands of the Nigerian police and called for greater respect for his fundamental human rights.

Thereafter, my appearance on Channels Television, a concerned individual calls up my brother and asks: “…What’s the business of an Urhobo man defending a Kogi Senator?”

Like Jesus Christ once answered to a question concerning who constituted His relations:

My origins may be from the great Urhobo lands of Ughelli and Agbarho in Delta State but my brothers and sisters are all those who are oppressed, who desire freedom, liberty, truth and justice.

They deserve the good life and better treatment at all times according to law.

I am a human rights defender. I will stand up for anyone and for everyone, no matter the tribe, race, religion, opinion, lifestyle or political affiliations.

I love anything human like the Creator loves me and everyone and has given us all things freely and to freely enjoy.

Therefore, I will stand up for the APC member and the PDP member. I will speak up and defend their rights to the best of my ability.

Like my faith in the Holy Bible, I believe that life will be better for all of us and that Nigeria will be preserved if we indeed place human rights first.

IN DINO VERITAS [MY EARLIER SUBMISSION]

The Latin expression, “in vino veritas” means, in wine lies the truth. It correlates with the present travails of Senator Dino Melaye.

Current trending news reports indicate that Senator Melaye has been whisked away by masked men from the custody of the Police hospital in Abuja and taken to an unknown destination.

There are also pictures in the social media depicting the senator to have been dumped in an open compound wherein he was shown sleeping on the ground, helplessly unattended to except by empty bottles of water and a bottle of ground nut.

Does that kind of treatment befit any Nigerian citizen who is presumed to be innocent of crime and has been in police custody, claiming a health challenge?

Wait a minute! What if Senator Dino Melaye were to die from these manhandling? Would something dawn on us?

There is a dark and heavy cloud that seems to have enveloped the sociosphere of our dear  country at this moment.

Freedom of thought and liberty that were common to political opinion holders in different political divides as they once were, have suddenly vanished while the consciences of many have become insensate from the inebriation that comes from living in denial of the truth.

That many Nigerians are carrying on, normally and in disunity, in the midst of a progressive degradation of the puny freedom and hope we once enjoyed, can only justify the suspicion that something quite sinister and foreboding, now has a grip on Nigeria.

We must therefore pray!

Political power like Vino often gets a man drunken. Anyone drunken with wine has less restraint in telling the truth, even the truth about himself and about his intentions.

Anyone who is drunken with the force of political power also has less restraint in its use until it leads to disgrace.

I urge the current holders of the force of State political power to show some restraint in order to preserve the polity.

Such restraint can only be established when a mighty government subjects itself to the restraint and confines of law.

The present treatment of Senator Melaye lies the truth about how much value we place on the rights of a Nigerian citizen. Therefore, like Vino, in Dino, veritas.

Frank Tietie

Executive Director,

Citizens Advocacy for Social & Economic Rights (CASER)