Dino Melaye’s Metamorphosis

I got it all wrong about
Dino Melaye. He is not as smart as I thought. I have looked into the chicken entrails and what I see of his political future makes me shudder. I see him valiantly engaged in the extremely foolish act of balancing himself on a banana peel. Tears well up in my eyes.
The self-styled anti-corruption senator first got my attention when he was shown on live TV slugging (fighting) it out with his colleagues in defence of ex-Speaker of the House of Representatives, Patricia Etteh. Melaye was a member of the House and the arrow-head of “Etteh must stay” campaign.
Madam Etteh was exposed for awarding needless contracts for the renovation of her official quarters. The Kogi-born senator showed solidarity with his boss by fighting like a school boy; literally throwing chairs, stones and tables at both his real and imaginary enemies in the House, and got his vestments thoroughly torn and soaked in his own blood.
Melaye set an example when he led some members of the House of Representatives to introduce a motion for the impeachment of Hon. Dimeji Bankole, a former Speaker of the House, over allegations of corruption. The motion precipitated a free-for-all on the floor of the House. The senator and his friends were eventually suspended for a year.
Dino sought to return to the House at the end of his tenure on the platform of his former party, the People’s Democratic Party (PDP), but he was denied the ticket. The sheer frustration of the denial caused him to set up an anti-corruption network. Since then I have watched this distinguished senator closely.
But he caught my imagination when he started his anti-corruption fight. He set up a website named, “anti-corruption network.org”. I admired him; and I followed him on twitter. I got his posts regularly on diverse corrupt practices in Nigeria. Those who liked him on facebook received messages from him as well.
Enlightening the world on his Anti-Corruption Network in the social media, Dino said it was a registered non-governmental, non-religious, non-political and non-profit organization set up to fight all forms of corruption in Nigeria through enlightenment campaigns, educational materials, exposition of crimes and corrupt activities of persons, groups, and government.
Following his anti-corruption activities and how he sounded grave before the international community, he and his anti-graft outfit became a cynosure. Consequently, the senator representing Kogi West on the platform of the All Progressive Congress (APC) bagged several awards. For instance, he earned two awards in the United States for his anti-corruption crusade and support for the Bring Back Our Girls campaign on the missing Chibok girls.
Senator Melaye not only got accolades for his fight against corruption,  he got some knocks as well. For example, scores of armed police officers sealed off a Nicon Luxury hotel room where an anti-corruption conference was being planned. It was later discovered that the conference was planned by an organization promoted by Melaye. Also, he had a running battle with the police over anti-corruption protests including that organized to demand the removal and prosecution of former Aviation Minister, Senator Stella Odua.
His fight against corruption was taken far beyond the shores of Nigeria to the international community where he alleged that the Dr. Goodluck Jonathan administration was tackling corruption with kid gloves. He enlisted the support of Nigerians in diaspora to participate in the protests organised by his Network in the streets of London and New York.
But the moment he was elected into the Senate, his anti-corruption activities ceased, while his website became inaccessible. Those beautiful anti-graft messages on his facebook and twitter accounts that spurred many Nigerians on to partner with him in the anti-corruption war have vanished like a nine days’ wonder.
Rather, what I see is a Melaye who has turned taciturn on virtually every corruption issue both in the nation and the senate. A Melaye who no longer talks about corruption brashly, but makes so much use of euphemism in expressing it. Yes, a Melaye who is the convener of senators of Like Minds who give inspiration to the Senate President, Bukola Saraki, in his corruption trial in the Code of Conduct Tribunal.
Two things might be at the heart of Dino Melaye’s dissembled anti-graft war. It was either he engaged in it to undo the immediate past president and his former political party for denying him a return ticket to the House, or he used it to garner popularity for his election into the senate?
The telltale signs are clear. Dino may not have formally backed out from fighting corruption, but what I see about him gives me the impression that he is gradually sliding into a huge national joke. Now, see what he has put the entire anti-corruption community through. See what he has put his admirers through. See what he has put me through. He has lost me.

Arnold Alalibo