A socio-political organisation of All Progressives Congress (APC) youths on Friday, July 15, 2016 condemned the “reckless” attack and blackmail carried out on a Nigerian senator, Dino Melaye by his colleague, Remi Tinubu.
Senator Dino Melaye, who is chairman of the senate committee on the Federal Capital Territory was allegedly in an altercation with Senator Remi Tinubu in an executive session of the senate on Tuesday, July 12, 2016. An online tabloid reported that Melaye threatened to “beat up” and “impregnate” Tinubu.
However, Melaye says he never made such a threat and that Tinubu called him a dog and a thug and in retaliation, he called her “stupid” and told her that the Nigerian senate was not her husband’s Lagos residence. Mrs. Tinubu has remained mute on the matter.
The organisation, under the aegis of Youth Alliance for Change, YAC, from the North Central zone, said the national leader of All Progressives Congress, APC, Bola Ahmed Tinubu, should be cautioned and called to order “before he plunges the party into a major crisis”, for what it called “the sustained attack on the leadership of the senate over his failure to install his stooges on the leadership of the National Assembly.”
According to them, the senate belongs to the Federal Republic of Nigeria and “not an extension of Tinubu’s political empire.”
The youths said the “gutter language” used by Mrs. Tinubu on Melaye, representing Kogi West during arguments on continued victimisation of senate leadership by forces opposed to the emergence of Senator Bukola Saraki as senate president, were unwarranted.
The position of YAC is contained in a communique issued and signed by its director of public communication, Mr. Malls Idris Sanni, after its emergency meeting.
The communique, which was e-mailed to The Trent, called on the leadership of the senate to “sanction Remi Tinubu for her unguarded vituperation against the Jarma of Okuta and the Senior Advocate of the Masses of Nigeria (SAM)” said the actions of Senator Tinubu smacks of “arrogance, political vendetta and betrayal of Senate unity against external influence”.
“We have watched with interest, how Senator Remi Tinubu has failed to recover from the humiliation of his husband, Senator Bola Ahmed Tinubu during the election of principal officers in the Senate. While her husband is fighting from outside the chambers through various courts, Remi Tinubu has continued to fight from inside,” the statement said.
“It is unfortunate that Remi Tinubu has not shown any respect toward the present leadership of the senate just because they are not his husband choices. The senate belongs to the Federal Republic of Nigeria and its people and not an extension of Tinubu’s political empire.
“We know why Tinubu wants to control everywhere ahead of the 2019 general elections. He can put his wife, daughter and in-laws on the ballots in Lagos. He should know Nigeria is bigger than Lagos”.
YAC expressed profound support for Senator Dino Melaye, who it described as “a sterling example of youth representation in governance and symbol of democracy, quality representation and legislative excellence via Independence.”
According to Sanni, the leadership of the APC should protect the victory of the party by promoting genuine change, equity and justice, saying the party is bigger than the selfishness of some leaders who are plunging the party into chaos for failing to actualise their aim of controlling every institution in Nigeria.
The group also call on all democrats in the country to remain vigilant in protecting the “hard-earned democracy procured with the blood and sweat of democracy martyrs”.
“Senator Dino Melaye is an institution in Nigeria. He is followed by millions of youths across the country for his heroics in exposing high profile corrupt cases.
“As an activist, he has fought relentlessly to reverse obnoxious policies that were clearly against the interest of the masses. He is a role model and a jewel to the party. We are solidly behind him because we believe he is fighting on the side of justice,” the group said.
Melaye held a press conference on Wednesday, July 13, 2016 in which he said that Bola Tinubu is not God and cannot influence his political destiny.
