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It is normal for a public figure, a successful one for that matter, to attract occasional sneer, derision or outright envy. But it is normal when such a thing is turned into an organized mob of enemies with a mandate to sneer the target personality by every available spit they could get. This is the case with the recent mudslinging and recall process of Senator Dino Melaye, Chairman Senate Committee on Federal Capital Territory (FCT) that was sponsored by the Governor Alh. Yahaya Bello and been coordinated by one Cornelius Olowo. Many giants had at one time attempted it in the past to hinder him but at every point he comes out victorious.
Dino as his friends and admirers fondly called him, is different things to different people. He is an institution in Nigeria Social Space, this fiery man, declaiming with clenched fists, a gadfly, a political agitator, a domineering, sometimes suffocating persona, a vicious, dogged man on the attack, an extraordinary man who soared above his peers. He is a man of physically giant statue, who is worth much more than his weight in gold. He represents hope to a people sinking deep in despondency and become the role model of what a good leader and a good Nigeria should be. Over the decades, one of those people whom identification is complete by the mention of a first name. School children, as well as grown adults knew who you meant when you uttered the word “Dino”.
Believing that those who would put an end to the agonies of the Kogians were not those whose minds were warped with manifold treacheries, standing firmly on the platform of dissension, he spent his acquired intellectual power to launch attack on all those who have turn Kogi to their personal estate. Even those who judge him unfairly, who claim to be objectively neutral in the crime of the last recall process, could not avoid his stinging indictments against the complacency.
Love him or loathe him, one incontestable fact about Dino Melaye, the distinguished Senator representing the good people of Kogi West and very few bad ones that you all know.
At a young age, he defeated the first giant when he put himself through School from Secondary School Form – 3 till University graduation and even had the good courage to buy a bicycle for his Dad in 2000 with his Corper’s allowance.
At Ahmadu Bello University (ABU) Zaria, he won an election and became Departmental President, another giant could not hinder him. He defeated another giant and he came victorious, he won overwhelmingly and became a member of House of Representatives representing Kabba/Bunu/Ijumu Federal Constituency.
Dino is a man who knows what he wants and goes all out to get it. People may have issues with his conduct and utterances, but the likelihood of convergence of opinions on him being goal-oriented is high. He came over another giant when he was not given much chance of winning his Party’s nomination, but he did. He was not to stand any chance of defeating another giant in a two term Senator Smart Adeyemi who is a veteran in Kogi West politics, but he defied all odds and beat him to the red chamber.
Those feat shows that there is more to Dino than clumsy conduct and ugly utterances. He is apparently a man of strategy. To accomplish any task it has to be defined and nobody can achieve what is not identified.
Beyond all manners of rhetoric, my critical appraisal of the deluge of allegations of non-performance or under-performance, from some politicians in the same Party with Dino are deeply unsettled and unprecedented exploits as a lawmaker coupled with his daily rising political profile, his popularity and statewide acceptability. Apart from sponsoring and co-sponsoring many for reaching bills and motions on the floor of the Senate on issues of national importance, Dino is an accomplished, lucid, enormously effective advocate who remains a winner any day and whose reputation is as intimidating as his towering height and frame. He remains undisputed doyen of the masses and one of the great minds of our time.
Dino has always attracted a sizeable crowd of admirers and disciple who aspired to walk like him, dress like him or adopt his unique gait and politics. He identified with the civil servants in the state, he is the only Senator that spoke against the nonpayment of Civil Servants salary running into months, between 16months and 24months. Primary School teachers, State workers, Local Government workers and the retirees who the government declared ghost are all victims. At Kogi today, most popular words are Cleared list, Uncleared list, Cleared but not paid and so on and so forth.
Dino used the strategy of Aristotle called Pathos in three elements of persuasion. Pathos is the meeting of the mind between the Speaker and the audience. Where Pathos holds sway, facts and figure are secondary, what is of primary concern to the audience is a connection of minds and an agreement of souls not only did he know what the people wanted to hear, he was passionate about his communication of this to them. So it was difficult for the target audience not to buy what he was pushing to them.
Dino is a man the downtrodden knew very well, they identify with him and his continued struggles, they understand his passion and dispassion, they know when he rages, he is about to challenge demonic ruler to a contest, they knew him to be a warrior constantly engaged in battles. He is a free giver and exemplary philanthropist. Dino in his usual magnanimity and deep sense of compassion and love for the poor and needy, had in the last three years, distributed food items and cash donations to many youth organization, indigent individuals, Party faithful, religious institutions, flood affected communities and several other bodies including the artisans and farmers.
Dino is a man of tomorrow that is living in a society that is opposed to tomorrow. This contrast procedures complex paradox that is responsible for Dino’s media deficit. Does Dino expect to be celebrated for been the first Senator from North Central geopolitical Zone and in Kogi State to build a Senatorial office at Kabba, the headquarter of Kogi West Senatorial District; he has build Classrooms, and many other empowerment to different beneficiaries such as motor cars, motorcycles, mobile phones and so on and so forth when the godfather have not eaten? Does not know that elaborate projects of this magnitude are affecting the percentage of returns expected by godfather(s)? Dino is a man of transcendental vision whose perceptive instinct is tormenting his adversaries. The network of conspiracy against Dino is such that even his own Party people then now constitute themselves into opposition.
Dino’s adversaries are not the masses who lined the roads to wave to him as the convoy drove past. His adversaries are the elites who are challenged by his passion and zeal for rapid development to their own personal material accumulation. It is the elite led by Governor Yahaya Bello and his ally Sen. Smart Adeyemi that are Dino’s major headache because they are the people who indulge themselves in the intrigues of competition, rivalry, envy and power tussles.
Dino is a man of strong discerning power, he knows the godfather may give support but cannot give votes; it is the people who have votes. The godfathers believes in bribing the voters on the day of election but Dino feels projects are more ideal as incentives for voters than pecuniary inducements. The conspiracy against him is so terrible that one cannot but marvel at the way he is still forging ahead with his projects at various sites almost at the same tempo. There is no sign at all that any projects will be abandoned as several have been completed, commissioned and are in use. He is not looking back because his hand is on the plough.
What is wrong with Dino? Does he not know that the template of performance that he has set up is on the high side, the former Senator does not want it too high. He is envious of a legacy that will be difficult to match. He is also building his own pyramid of hate when he is yet to customize his power. In our Society we kill initiatives and rundown ideas with our mouth because we are afraid of comparative assessment.
Why for God’s sake must a member of the same party establish fraternities of hate for a performer like Dino? I came up with two theories when I saw what he is doing to good people of Kogi West. One, he is either compensating the people for having endure delayed representation since 1999 or two, he is a man that is in a hurry to actualize his Vision for development. That is another reason for Dino’s media deficit. His achievements, initiatives, innovations, modernizing projects must appear in newspaper because they irritate his predecessors and remind them of their inadequacies and failures.
There is something about the power of the media. It can cause blackout and it can illuminate, unconsciously entangle in the intrigues of power, the media put Dino in the dark and a hardworking Senator is presented to the public as a very indolent Senator who has nothing to show for the people that voted him into office, whereas Senators who never did half of what Dino has done were given unstinting adulation while Dino was unfairly abandoned.
Senator Dino Melaye is a factor in the Nigeria politics. He is not a President but he is greater than most past Nigerian Presidents, he is not a god but feared more than a god, he is not armed but those who fear him are armed, he is not at home, but everywhere, when he coughs, his enemies catch cold, when he travels they fear of what his mission is. Those other giants that have suffered at one point or the other are Elder Orubebe, Diezani Alison-Madueke, Dr. Ngozi Okonjo Iweala, Sen. Ali Ndume, Sen. Remi Tinubu, Adams Oshiomhole, Sam Aro, Mr. Mohammed Adoke SAN, Sen. Stella Odua and the lists goes on and on.
Thus, let the world go forth from now to friends and foes alike that the essential Dino is unshaken even in the face of provocation and obtuse of power. Dino’s legacy remains indelible and no amount of human efforts can obliterate the important part of history.
– Sunday Oguntebi
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