[dropcap]T[/dropcap]he ashes of the Senate tango between Senator Dino Melaye and Senator Remi Tinubu might be having some rest, but the take-aways from the episode are yet to go away. It kept reverberating like a gong that has refused to go. Unknown to many people, the battle was never between Dino and Remi. In the literary context, Remi was a shadow of the big masquerade who has been fanning the embers of disunity and crisis in Senate.
Many stories have been told about the fires of Bourdillon. A friend put a call across to me, saying, “Warn Dino not to step Lagos again o. Jagaban Don vex o”. I didn’t bother to tell the Distinguished Senator from the West. Jagaban is powerful in Lagos, not all of Lagos as he fatally failed in dominating the entire Lagos in the last election. I have carried out an extensive research on the sacrilegious strength of the Jarman and Jagaban. Culturally, neither of them can bow to the other.
To be candid, I was one of the people who respected Bola Ahmed Tinubu for his immeasurable sacrifices in returning the nation to the path of democracy. While he led a flank of the pro-democracy activism, Sen. Dino Melaye was coalescing force with other students union leaders to end the reign of kakistocracy in the nation, a feat which endeared the latter to the Nigerian people.
If the results of the APC in Lagos shocked me, a better shocker was laying mines in the screening of the super Minister For Works, Power, Lands and Housing. His intelligent statement, “May our loyalty never be tested” gave a gory reflection of a draconian brand of autocratic dominance by a man mistaken for a democrat. From Femi Pedro to Bucknor Akerele, it has been a story of ruthless abandonment by a man who is nursing a tall dream to rule Nigeria.
The slipping of Lagos is fillip for rejigging the Bola Tinubu political corporation and ideology. He needs to look at people with respect. He need to give the people a say in their own affairs. He needs to promote an expansionist and inclusive style of leadership. He needs to know where the brakes of control lie in his political vehicle. Democracy cannot be bastardized. It is the highest podium of freedom, the freedom to choose, the freedom to decide, a reminder of the fact that two is greater than one. It has no place for the Dostoevsky theory. The will of the people is the will of God. The opium!
In the run up to the 2015 Kogi West Senatorial Election, no one gave Sen. Dino Melaye a chance against moneybags who were heavily oiled to trample on the will of the people. The people faced all odds, came out determined to effect change. By the time results were tickling in, it was obvious that the people had spoken. He won. The people won. Kogi West won.
The avalanche of support enjoyed by Senator Dino Melaye in Kogi West today stems from his charismatic leadership and his response to the sense of entitlement by the Kogi West people. The people saw him as their own Senator, the antidote to the colossal irresponsibility of the previous eight years.
The den is never strange to the Daniel called Dino. He was locked up for speaking truth to powers. He was persecuted for fighting the cause of the common man. He has seen it all. The alacrity with which he dispatched Jagaban is a lesson to all. Never take your luck too far.
It is pertinent to note that the main target of the anti-Saraki is Dino Melaye. They have combed everywhere to find incriminating materials against Melaye to no avail. He doesn’t execute government contracts. He is free of corrupt practices. But he remained eternally glued to his ideology of social justice and consistently committed to the critical need for steadfast loyalty to his beliefs.
Let me end this by congratulating Sen. Dino Melaye for his brilliant press release to his people yesterday. I read it severally. I wish we have had a Senator like him in the past 8 years. I urge him to keep the tempo of communication. When you speak to problems, problems give way because it cannot speak back. We are witnessing a new dawn in Kogi West political horizon. What it tells us is that, there are better days ahead for the people of Kogi West.
Thank you, and God bless you all.
Man of Pen is a pen name.
The opinions expressed in this article are solely those of the author.
