Abuja – Senate President Bukola Saraki on Wednesday took an exception to the manner in which his close ally, Senator Dino Melaye, dramatizes issues on the floor of the Senate.
Saraki, while reacting to Melaye’s account of new developments in the case of his alleged involvement with two criminal suspects whom he said had reportedly escaped from police custody in Lokoja, frowned at how Melaye quickly digressed from presenting his argument to singing.
Senator Melaye, who told the Senate that while he sent legal representations to the state High Court, despite not being served any summon started that the police instead of presenting the suspects in court were asking for a bench warrant to arrest him.
“Mr President, the social media this morning was awash – and I have made confirmation that the suspects in my case who said I gave them guns and money – there is a reported case in Lokoja that there was a jailbreak at 5:00am this morning and the two suspects have escaped.
“Mr President we were all suppose to appear before the Lokoja high court this morning. My lawyers were in court at 9:00am and the case was called up and the prosecutor of the Nigerian police could not produce the two persons.
“Instead of producing the two persons they asked the judge to a bench warrant for an arrest but the judge refused to grant their prayers and the judge said despite the fact that I have not been served I sent representation to the court. And the main accused persons are absent in court,” Melaye said.
He however, continued in a dramatic manner with a song: “dis kain God oo, I never see your type ooo, dis kain God ooo blessed be your holy name…”
At this point, the Senate president who yielded the floor to him said: please, Senator Melaye, you are an elder statesman and we expect that you conduct yourself as such”.
“The Senate chamber is not a place for drama, and I urge you to stick to the issue to underscore its seriousness,” Saraki said.
Continuing, Senator Melaye said: “Rumours have it that this people were moved from detention, and rumours have it that they may have been killed because yesterday two international organisations were in Kogi based on my petition to find out what is happening.
“Surprisingly these two people have now been declared escapees. Mr President I want to use the opportunity and on the principle of justice to call on the inspector-general of police that within 48 hours he must produce these accused persons because they are presumed innocent until proven guilty they also have right to life.
“So police must as a matter urgency produce these two accused persons. Failure to do so I will sue the IG for mental assault. Nigeria is not a banana republic,”, he said.
The senate therefore directed the Inspector General of Police, Ibrahim Idris to as a matter of urgency produce the suspects within 48hours.
However, in a related development, the Kogi State police command in Lokoja has declared Senator Melaye wanted.
In a statement issued and signed by the Commissioner, Mr Ali Janga, the police said that 6 suspects who were in custody, out of whom two had confessed to crimes at the instance of the lawmaker and one Mohammed Audu, have broken out of jail.
“Consequently, all the six suspects, Senator Dino Melaye and Mohammed Audu were sent for watch listing and red notice by the INTERPOL for immediate arrest any where we see them.
“The Command hereby appealed to members of the public to assist the Police with useful information on the whereabouts of the suspects by reporting to the nearest police station,” the statement read.
The police authority also said investigation into the incident is ongoing and 13 officers who were on duty when the incident occurred have been detained for interrogation.
