Sen Dino Melaye puts Gov Yahaya Bello, APC on fresh hot seat

Senator Dino Melaye has put Governor Yahaya Bello of Kogi State, including the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) on fresh hot seat in the politics of the state. The former senator was on Tuesday exonerated by the court from charges of false information which was raised against him by the federal government to frustrate his political ambition of returning to the senate. But Melaye has shown that those accusing him of lies are the liars; and this may betray their public trust in the country. The judgment implies that it is now the duty of the APC, the federal government and the Kogi State government to prove that they are not the ones involved in false information for political purpose.

Senator Dino Melaye was discharged by an Abuja High Court on Tuesday of the charges of false information filed against him by the Federal Government.

Justice Olasumbo Goodluck, in a ruling on a no-case submission filed before the court held that the prosecution counsel failed to establish a prima facie case against the senator.

Senator Melaye was alleged to have, sometime in April, 2017 deliberately given false information to the police to incriminate the-then Chief of Staff to the Kogi State Governor, Mr. Edward Onoja, as the mastermind of an assassination attempt on him.

He was also alleged to have, in April 2017, made a false statement in a phone conversation with one Mohammed Abubakar with the intention of harming the reputation of Mr. Onoja.

Senator Melaye, however, pleaded not guilty to the charges, punishable under the penal code.

The presiding judge delivering judgment on Tuesday, declared that there was no evidence that the defendant gave false information to any person in public service. Melaye was, therefore, discharged and acquitted.

The judgment has rekindled the public to the desperation of the APC national leadership, the federal government and the Kogi State governor to take Melaye out of the senate being sensitive to his rising profile and popularity in the upper chamber of the National Assembly and his vehement criticism of the APC federal government and the president.