Adedunmade: Your twitter Bio describes you as an ACN Chieftain, former member House of Representatives and Human Right Activist; however we want to know who really is Dino Melaye?
Dino Melaye: Dino Melaye is a beautifully ugly guy who lives below the poverty line; I am from Kogi State, a member of the Action Congress of Nigeria, former member of the House of Representatives and a human right activist that is all about this unemployed Nigerian.
Adedunmade: Did you have shoes as a child?
Dino Melaye: Of course I had shoes and I will thank my father because I remember tellaralf, I remember Bata shop, I remember Kingsway, I had shoes, I was not shoeless.
Adedunmade: What qualifies you to be a human right activist?
Dino Melaye: What qualifies anybody for that matter to become a human right activist is once you become a voice of the voiceless and you speak for those who can’t speak for themselves you become a human right activists, in an unjust society challenge is a crime, once you try to advocate for change and the emancipation of the less privileged and the oppressed of society, I regard you as an human right activist.
Adedunmade: what led you into politics?
Dino Melaye: I will say it is inborn and I have been indoctrinated and imbibed with the rudiments for a while having been the head boy in primary school and secondary school, student union leader, I think I have always had a flare for politics.
Adedunmade: You live a flashy life style and are very rich, what do you do for a living?
Dino Melaye: The truth of the matter is except you have access to my bank account, I wouldn’t know your yard stick for being rich but I will say I am not a waster, I am a responsible Nigerian, I am comfortable, I wouldn’t regard myself as rich, if you ask what I do for a living, I am a social worker, I believe in social re-engineering, that’s basically what I do and I also have interest in real estate.
Adedunmade: As a member of the House of Representatives, what led to your fight at the house and your suspension?
Dino Melaye: In very simple language, what led to my fight in the house and suspension is actually our fight against corruption, we discovered corruption on the floor of the house and we raised questions and those questions were ignored, we petitioned the EFCC and the ICPC and instead of responding to our petitions, the leadership of the house instigated our members into violence, particularly what led to it was that a point of order was raised, I raised a point of order and by our rules, once a point of order is raised, it must be taken immediately but that day, the speaker deliberately created anarchy on the floor by disregarding the rules of the house, immediately the speaker refused to recognise the point of order, he created a state of anarchy and that led to pandemonium on the floor, the beaten of some of us, even embarrassing us by tearing our clothes and eventual suspension and to God be the glory, truth has no colour, we went to the court of law and we won our case.
Adedunmade: During your tenure as Honourable member of the House of Representatives, what constituency projects did you execute?
Dino Melaye: I will start by correcting an erroneous impression that many people have that there is something called constituency project or constituency allowance, there is nothing that constituency allowance, honourable members have no access whatsoever to projects. You can as a legislator, influence the citing of a project within your constituency but nobody gives a legislator money to build anything, to supply anything or contract anything whatsoever, so I will say that as a legislator within my meager resources, personally I carried out some social activities, from youth empowerment to building schools, roads, supply of books, skill acquisition for the underprivileged, I provided scholarship for indigent students above all I got a number of my constituents employed into the Federal civil service. A legislator has got 2 responsibilities, one is the act of law making which I tried my best to do that, second is the act of representation, speaking for your people and trying to defend their own share of the national cake, last one is over sight function over the MDH, i think i did my best in this regard.
Adedunmade: You are said to have benefitted from the rot in the society as a former member of PDP, why are you now laundering your image via social media just because you have fallen out of favour?
Dino Melaye: I will start by saying that statement is fallacious, unfair and it’s not true, even as a member of the PDP, I moved a motion against the sitting president as he then was, the late President Umar Yaradua, I moved a motion on the floor of the house when he wanted to borrow 300 million from the world bank, as a member of the PDP, I moved a motion against the sale of Ajaokuta steel, the sale of Delta steel, the construction of the second runway in the airport at Abuja, the construction of the airport road in Abuja and a number of anti – corruption motions that saved this country billions of naira, so I will not concur to the fallacious statement that its because I left PDP that I started agitation, I have no image to launder, I have never done government contracts at any time of my life, I say this with all sincerity that I have never done a government contract whether at state or federal level and I want to tell you that if I have any skeleton in my cupboard or I was part of the rot and corruption in the National Assembly or the country at large, I wouldn’t be fighting corruption today because you know definitely that government would have come after me, like I said boastfully, the only thing the federal government and PDP is yet to find out about me is where my grandfather was buried because I have been investigated and I will like to say to the glory of God I have tried to be upright.
It is actually erroneous and capricious for anybody to think that because I was in the PDP, I was also as dangerous and draconian as the people that are there and the truth of the matter is that party politics is like religion, people convert form Islam to Christianity , from Christianity to Islam, depending on where you find succor, I was a member of the PDP, and driving on that road, I saw a lot of potholes and driving down the line I started seeing hurdles so I had to leave the PDP for the Action congress of Nigeria and I have no attitude or character problem for me to even ask for amelioration or try to launder , I have no personality to launder, all I am doing is my best way of contributing my quota to building a just egalitarian society, a new Nigeria where my grandchildren whom I may never know may have a life structure for them.
Adedunmade: how have you helped youths in your home state of Kogi outside your influence as Honourable member of the House of Representatives?
Dino Melaye: Yes , apart from being a member of the House of representatives, I am very high chief in Kogi state,I am the Otunba of Bunuland, a first class traditional ruler in the state and the truth of the matter is I have really tried for the people of Kogi state, as a matter of fact as I speak to you I am in court with the former governor of kogi state who embezzled the money of our state and personalized the state for a while and if you are aware I have petitioned at the EFCC a good number of appointees and workers in the state, I have done my best in the state , we are still fighting for a better kogi state, I have no other state to call my own, I was still there last week and we continue to work towards promoting the peace and development of the state.
Adedunmade: What is your rating of President Jonathan’s government?
Dino Melaye: I may not have the yard stick or parameter or indices to rate President Jonathan’s government but I can describe Nigeria as a car being driven by a drunken driver.
Adedunmade: Why are you vehemently against President Jonathan?
Dino Melaye: I want to start by correcting an impression that I have nothing personal against the personality and character or President Goodluck Jonathan , I have no personal conflict or disagreement with him but as a Nigerian I am also entitled to my opinion about how I am being governed , my grouse is against this government and not president Jonathan as an individual, I see corruption has been the bane of our development as a Nation and when it is not being fought with every vigour and commitment then we have no option than to complain because every Nigerian must at the end of the day decide to either work in light or perish in darkness. A typical example, the NNPC has been indicted by the report of the House on subsidy, the PPPRA has been indicted, infact, federal government has gone ahead to sack the management staff of the NNPC and even dissolved the board of NNPC mean while Diezani Allison Madueke is the chairman of the board of NNPC and on whose table the bulk stops but she is still there as the minister of petroleum and the chairman of the board of NNPC, you cannot sack the management board of NNPC and leave the chairman of the board. Even the PPPRA that has been indicted, she oversees PPPRA. During President Yaradua’ s tenure, the then minister for health, Professor Grange was indicted in a case of corruption, even before the EFCC commenced investigation ,they were dropped as ministers, another typical example is the case of Osuji who was minister of education during the time of Obasanjo, immediately he was indicted he was dropped as minister and in the National Assembly when the speaker was indicted of a bribery scandal of 65 million naira , he was removed as speaker, so we are saying there is precedent to it and even the public service act is clear that once you are indicted in a case of corruption, you go on suspension without salary until investigation is concluded, so we are surprised that the president is condoling corruption and this government is promoting corruption by keeping those who have been indicted over corruption and now that the NNPC is being investigated and the minister is still seating, definitely she will impede on investigation, you cannot be a judge in your own case, this has created a lot of disappointment and disbelief in our president and we see the president as a very weak president and we do believe that except the president wakes up from his slumber and fights corruption sincerely then we will continue to have a great disrespect for this government .
Adedunmade: why did you tell a certain person who engaged you on twitter to take 2 litres of acid and shut up?
Dino Melaye: The truth of the matter is that many people on twitter are hired thugs to fight those who are fighting this government, we are aware that money has exchanged hands between the presidency and some hired guns on twitter, that most of them when you open their account on twitter , they have zero followers and they are following only one or two people, so they just open twitter accounts to attack some of us whom they believe are fighting corruption but be that as it may, my statement to that young man on twitter was actually from the point of a joke because he said that he does not know why people take me serious and he made a statement which I cannot recall any longer so I advised him to just take 2 litres of acid and shut up, if he doesn’t want to see my face again and hear my voice, moreover he is following me on twitter and I am not following him, so he can to unfollow me or block me but it was actually on a lighter note though I have no apologies for whatever action I had taken.
Adedunmade: what is National Association of Democratic youths (NADY) and what role did you play in it?
Dino Melaye: National association of Democratic youths was a non - governmental organization I formed in 1999 and it became the leading youth organization in the north then, I was the founder and the head office was in kaduna, that’s all about NADY.
Adedunmade: Nigerians have seen so many human right activists who have always had hidden personal agendas, what makes you so different?
Dino Melaye: I think sincerely commitment and approach, I was incarcerated during the Abacha government , I was also locked up during the fuel susbsidy crisis, I am not running for the president of this country, there are people who are naturally called as change agents in every society and I want to believe that is my calling and that’s why we are doing what we are doing, we have no regrets doing what we are doing, the movement will not be discouraged and I want to assure Nigerians that I will not betray them, I want to assure those who believe that we will not compromise, we shall not commercialise our consciences or I will not commercialise my conscience, I will not monetize my belief in this struggle, they will have no reason to say I betrayed them.
Adedunmade: Thank you so very much for your time sir.
Dino Melaye: Thank you very much.
