ONE was shocked recently with the media awash with the oral diarrhoea suffered by Senator Dino Melaye who attempted in vain to scoff at our well-regarded Governor, Adams Oshiomhole, while contributing to a motion seeking the need for Nigerians to patronise products made in the country.
Nigerians were stunned at the recklessness exhibited by Melaye, who represents Kogi-West senatorial district, who like a man drunken with ogogoro (local gin) said Nigerians should not emulate the governor whom he said opted not to “patronise ‘Made-in-Nigeria women’ as if Nigerian women were now equal to market goods.
Melaye was referring to Iara, the wife of Oshiomhole, whom he married from Cape Verde in the Southern African region.
Shamelessly, Melaye, like a demented pest derailed a serious national issue tabled by a responsible Senator who knows why he we elected by his constituents to represent their voices in the hallowed chambers of the Senate.
It was obvious that since the Comrade Governor re-married following the death of his wife many years ago, which of course is what any responsible man should do, Dino Melaye has been livid in envy and shameless racism because of the colour and beauty of Oshiomhole’s heartthrob.
Nobody tells a young lad with protruding teeth not to develop such dentition, but the prayer from our elders has always been that he should equally develop sufficient lips to cover them, otherwise, he might eternally be open to public ridicule. This appears to be the lot of Dino Melaye. His reckless commentary on Oshiomhole’s marriage has exposed him as one of the irresponsible Senators in the National Assembly who is not married at all, let alone being happily married. Instead of settling down with a woman like Oshiomhole did years after he lost his wife Clara to Cancer, Dino Melaye is busy changing small girls like wrapper in Abuja. He invests his resources on several girl friends, none of whom he has seen to be good enough to marry. Sadly too, very unAfrican, his family has not been able to call him to order.
In a typical African society, a ‘big boy’ like Dino Melaye who do not have a wife in his house would be pestered by his mother and close relatives to do so as his current unmarried status takes away something from the family. Such a status presents him clearly as an irresponsible person who is not fit and proper to be elected into the Senate of the Federal Republic of Nigeria.
His madness also threw up another part of him which many Nigerians didn’t know before now and, that is, the fact that he did not have even a single Made- in -Nigeria car among his fleet of cars, it meant that the Bill being introduced by his colleague was really meant for unpatriotic and irresponsible Nigerians like him. Sensing that the innocuous Bill targeted his likes in Nigeria, he chose to trivialise such an important discussion on the floor of the red chambers of the National Assembly by bringing up Oshiomhole’s marriage to Iara into the discussions.
He said, “I want to celebrate the ‘Made-in-Nigeria senator’ for bringing up this motion. In considering goods produced in Nigeria, we must look at the enabling factors that will necessitate the goods.” What enabling factors does Dino Melaye need to settle down with one woman and stop flirting around with everything in skirt?
In any case, Oshiomhole was at liberty to marry whomsoever he chooses and from whatever nation in the world or any colour. He could choose to marry a white, black or red person. The colour or country from where he chooses to marry from is immaterial for the destitute in the National Assembly. When has it become an offence for an African man to marry an African woman?
Dino Melaye must apologise to Comrade Adams Oshimhole for the unwarranted attack on his marriage and person. He must also apologise to Nigerian women whom he massed with common market articles. It shows that Melaye is a deadly chauvinist who has no gender sense or respect for the women folk. Little wonder, therefore, he has not been able to maintain a decent matrimonial home.
The fact that the constitution of Nigeria and international charters allow freedom of speech does not give idiots the license to slander responsible citizens of the country. There is no sane man who would utter such comments in the floor of the National Assembly as Dino Melaye did. Authorities of the National Assembly would do the nation some good by sending him to the psychiatric hospital for urgent medical attention before he wreaks more havoc on the image of the Senate.
Many Nigerians know Dino Melaye as a man who often wants to be heard whether he is making sense or nonsense. He remains a man known for his proud, cocky and pretends to be speaking for the masses while in him is a ravening capitalist who does not hide his flamboyant lifestyle.
He has shamelessly exhibited his penchant for foreign goods consistently on social media, to accentuate his materialistic weirdness, hence his obvious opposition to made-in-Nigeria goods.
Dino Melaye needs to purge himself of his egoistic and stupendous lifestyles for him to appreciate the problems of Nigerians. He is just a wrong choice for the people of Kogi West. They made a terrible mistake to have elected him and he would continue to embarrass them unless they quickly set in motion machinery to recall him from the Senate.
Little wonder he had taken to twitter to blast Sahara Reporters for allegedly using a false headline against him as he said Oshiomole never called him a lunatic in the statement, and that when he is ready, Nigerians will see his Made- in -Nigeria wife.
The question Nigerians are asking is when will Dino Melaye be ready to marry? It is not enough to criticise those who have married for the choices they made. You marry your own and face it. Oshiomhole has married the woman of his choice and he owes no one any apologies for his choice. How he carries on with his marriage is not the business of evil people who prefer to elope with 13-years-old infants than get a woman to marry. They just have to look elsewhere because Oshiomhole is a well respected Nigerian leader who has demonstrated that he has the capacity and morality to lead Nigeria to greater heights and no evil plots or commentaries can diminish him.
• Mr. Dan Owegie is a chieftain of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Edo State.
