‘Melaye’s Lies Will Crash at the Tribunal’
The Minority Whip, Kogi State House of Assembly and All Progressives Congress senatorial aspirant for Kogi West, Hon. Abidemi Adeyemi, has expressed optimism that Hon. Dino Melaye’s electoral victory would not stand the scrutiny of the election tribunal.
You contested the APC Senatorial ticket for Kogi West in December 2014, but are still raising issues of irregularities against the eventual winner, Hon Dino Melaye, even after the general election. Why is this? I have always said it both on the social and the print media that Dino Melaye did not win the Kogi West senatorial primaries of the APC in December 2014. He did not defeat me at all. I insist that the result of the primaries which was presented to INEC was forged. There was no primary and the INEC report certified that there was no primary in Kogi West. But Dino and his cohorts manufactured a result, saying Dino scored above 1,000, while I scored 400. That is fraud and that in itself is criminal. I didn’t contest with him. He ran away with the material. So, where did he get the figures? Did you take up this matter with party leaders? As a matter of fact, all letters duly signed to the headquarters, National Chairman, to the Appeal Committee, the legal unit; to the state executive committee and we even went to the national media. We had a full page stating what happened and publishing the INEC report. So, if the party says they are not aware, it’s a lie. They were aware of what happened. As a matter of fact, it happened from the House of Assembly to the Senate; all over Kogi State. There was no primary. Dino and his cohorts just sat down somewhere, to write names. There were reports that they were beating young people, harassing them and violently claiming positions. That was the incident we had throughout in Kogi State. Why didn’t you seek redress in court before the elections? In fairness, we would have gone to court, but we saw Dino as someone that lacks the capacity to win the election and we wanted to really contest because personally, I believe that nobody can shape my destiny. (Prince Abubakar) Audu and Dino cannot say that I should not contest. It’s beyond them and it’s beyond a particular party. Nigeria is bigger than anyone of us or any association. So, we wanted to exhibit that right to the end and make a statement and that was what we did. Is it possible that your petitions didn’t get to the APC headquarters? I was at the headquarters for one week personally. I met with the party leaders, the legal team, I was even in the office of the National Chairman and all the papers received were duly stamped. Are they now saying that they didn’t see the INEC report in the national dailies as well indicting APC and Dino of not conducting primaries? It was flashed on the net. We were on Channels TV for almost two weeks on daily basis. So, nobody can lay claim to the fact that they’ve not seen anything being done. What did you do when the party refused to lift a finger? They didn’t. We bought form for N3.5 million – everyone of us; they collected it. They gave us screening certificate and there was no primary and they were aware and the party did nothing about it. And when you look at the way Buhari emerged, you would have wondered why the party will entertain that at such level. The global support that Buhari has today is as a result of the clean and clear primary he had, which the whole world saw. So, people like Dino should not ride on the bandwagon of credibility. We know him. What I did was to contest under the Labour Party. Now that Dino has been elected Senator, what’s next? The case is not close at all. It is like a criminal case, you cannot say because somebody steals today and you didn’t catch him, so if you catch him five years after you will not prosecute him. It is a pre-election matter and we are pursuing it. Though Dino has been declared an elected Senator and by God’s grace, he will be disgraced out of that position. There was no party resolution to the effect that he is a candidate and there was no primary. Dino is trying to short-change the Nigerian Constitution. He is not eligible to be a Senator and that is why the judiciary will remove him in no time. I can assure you about that. The Judiciary has settled that matter even at the level of the Supreme Court, if you are not validly nominated for election; you are not qualified to be elected. That is the position of the law. Have you taken any legal step to that effect? I am five hundred per cent joining all legal efforts to remove him, so long as it is within the legal framework. Dino cannot represent me, he cannot represent my people, he cannot represent my family and he cannot represent my tribe. You said what happened in Kogi West was replicated across the state, what do think this portend for the party if every aggrieved party decides to take up the matter? I wish the APC knew the enormous responsibility that is in their hands. To win an election is not the end itself. It is what you do with the power. We have blamed other parties for 16 years, now they have their own platform to see what they want to do. They have enormous challenges in their hands and I wish they will stand up to it so that we can see democracy moving forward. For me, I left the party, after bringing so much to the table. We started the party together from ACN. With all my petitions and protests, nothing was done. Even if I wasn’t contesting, as a sane man, as a rational man and as Christian, I can’t stay in that kind of gathering. Even if I wasn’t contesting, if that is done to anybody, I shouldn’t be associated with such gathering. Buhari has enormous goodwill coming to office, but do you see him translating that goodwill to practical purposes in government? I think so, but as a politician, there is a reality on the ground. With my little experiences, there are lots of people you have to deal with and they are different vested interests. This is not a military government. Naturally, the goodwill he has inherited with this election is enough to navigate the murky waters. So, I pray that God gives him good health and the will so that these four years will not be four years of battle instead of development. He might end up fighting his enemies all through the four years if they don’t see things the way he sees them. We pray that God will give him the wisdom, but it’s not easy and it’s never easy. Buhari should just see himself like Mandela – do what you want to do in four years; reform the electoral process, restructure the economy, then leave it to a new generation. But to think that you are the one that will do the miracle, it’s a process. No one can do it. But you can lay the foundation and that is what I expect from him. Have you tried reaching out to Dino? Politics is not by force. Party is not by force. If a man has stolen my mandate, in essence, I’m the one that is supposed to occupy the office which he is. That is the implication. How will I now reach out to such a person? Darkness and light cannot live together. Whether he reaches out to me or I reach out to him, I can’t work with Dino. We are not in the same league. But they say in politics, what matters is interest. Doesn’t that apply to you? But there are principles too. That is why we have people to the left, we have people to the right and we have people to the centre. His own edge is far off from where I stand. So, there is still a difference even though it is the same political party. How did you allow all these to happen to you even as an insider? Well, we did our best. We made reports. There was a time we even led a delegation which I headed to meet Dr. Kayode Fayemi and made some of these claims on the ground. There was a time Senator Bukola Saraki was involved. I remember we had a meeting in his house. We laid down all these, but these people have their own way which is different from ours and there has been some compromise at the high level, which makes it so difficult. So, we really tried our best but they were bent on doing what they did. You can see it reflected in the House of Assembly election. Dino only tried to use the name of the party, APC. Ordinarily, who is Dino? But during the state House of Assembly elections, everybody reverted to his original position and our identity was restored. Dino even lost his unit and the ward. When the Buhari Euphoria was gone, reality came back. I see that they will be getting weaker and weaker in the state, except there is reform within the party. The APC in Kogi State must be ready to play the role of opposition as long as Dino and co are the face of the party. What is the strength of the Labour Party in Kogi West, on whose platform you contested the election? It’s a very weak party. It’s a party we are looking at as the party of the future because we felt the more developed a society is, the more there is a tendency to understand the essence of labour. At present, the labour system in Nigeria is very chaotic. But in the future, it might not be like that. So, we feel labour is the party of the future. We do not have the strength now, but we can build on what we have as an alternative to the two major parties.