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The embattled lawmaker representing Kogi West Senatorial District, Senator Dino Melaye, has thanked Nigerians for standing by him during his travails in the hands of those he described as the “State.”

Melaye, in a lengthy write-up posted on Facebook on Monday, alleged that his trials were a plot by the “State” to silence him.

The lawmaker, however, said that he is now more resolute on his convictions.

Melaye is being prosecuted by the Nigeria Police in two separate courts.

While he is standing trial in a Lokoja, Kogi State, court on charges bordering on gun-running, he is also on trial in an Abuja court for attempted suicide, among other charges.

The senator wrote: “Someone once said that rock bottom is good solid ground and a dead-end street is just a place to turn around.

“In the last few weeks, I have been taken to the good solid ground at the rock bottom and they couldn’t go further. I have been brought to the dead-end street, but with you standing by my side, I have turned around and bounced back to the chagrin of those who sought to seal my lips from speaking out against tyranny, politics of oppression and blackmail.

“They unleashed an endless barrage of physical, psychological, metaphysical and emotional torture and assault on me, but through the power of the Most High and you, the good people of Nigeria, we have once again seen the triumph of truth over lies and good over evil.

“It was Edmund Burke who was quoted as saying that when bad men combine, the good must associate; else they will fall one by one … in a contemptible struggle.

“I am, of all men, a blessed man, to have courageous and dependable people like you as my fellow soldiers in the struggle to free us from the shackles of political strongholds and tyranny.”

He added, “The state unleashed its raw power on me and released a 200-man-strong fully-armed policemen on a man without a knife or a bullet. It did this because I called injustice by its name and called for accountability. For this, they sought to break my spirit and destroy me permanently.

“In their moment of reign, I was fully shackled. With my hands tied to my back and hurled into a dark solitary confinement waiting for the butchers knife, you, my people, stood by me. You came against a raging fire and stood up against tyranny, lies, filthy lucre, injustice, persecution and greed.

“While in the dark and unable to fight for myself, they sought to take my mandate, which you had freely given to me, but you answered back and quenched deceit in its wake. You stood resolute and unflinching and defended your mandate to me.

“I thank you from the bottom of my heart. In their attempt to break me, they have made me stronger.”

The lawmaker thanked all those who stood in his defence and visited him “after I was injured and subsequently detained at the hospital.”

He said, “You have strengthened my resolve and hardened my flesh against those who seek to devour and make meat of me. You have once again proved to me the axiom in the saying that ‘in prosperity, our friends know us; in adversity, we know our friends.’ I am very grateful. For your sake, I remain unbowed.

“I know many of you worry about my safety and life in this new dispensation where life is no longer sacred in Nigeria, but do not be troubled. My bond of love for you, my good people, makes it impossible for me to consider my self-risk, safety, comfort or opportunity in my unflinching commitment to stand up for you, to stand up for truth and if necessary, die for the truth and the emancipation of our people from the chains of poverty and oppression.

“Though they raise spurious allegations against me, bear false witness against me, though they seek to frighten me and lure me into their bounty of evil, I will fear no foe.

“Yes, my traducers and torturers wish that I keep quiet; though they seek to seal my lips, to silence my voice forever, I remain ever more resolute and committed. I am committed to this cause for which I am a politician; the cause of the downtrodden, to speak truth to power and stand against oppression and injustice. On these issues, there will be no compromise. I owe no apologies and I tender none.

“Like I have always said, ‘you speak the truth, you die; you don’t speak the truth, you die. I have chosen to speak the truth, dead or alive. Reverend Martin Luther King Jnr. once said, ‘Cowardice asks the question: is it safe? Expediency asks the question: is it politics? Vanity asks the question: is it popular? But Conscience asks the question: is it right?’ And there comes a time when one must take a position that is neither safe nor political nor popular, but one must take it because it is right.

“To my people, I promise you this and this only. I have taken my position; I will not hold back, I will not hold my peace, I will not be shut down, neither will I shut up, not as long as injustice and falsehood continues to reign.

“As long as I will live, I will not bow to Baal.”


http://punchng.com/dino-melaye-disses-the-state-says-i-remain-unbowed/

Mr. Emeka Etiaba (SAN), a defence lawyer to a former National Publicity Secretary of the Peoples Democratic Party, Mr. Olisa Metuh, announced his withdrawal from the case during the Monday’s proceedings of Metuh’s trial before the Federal High Court in Abuja.

Etiaba announced his withdrawal from the case after the judge, Justice Okon Abang, insisted that the trial would continue in the aftermath of Metuh’s fall while the proceedings were about to begin Monday.

Metuh fell while making his way to the dock.

The judge insisted that the defence should call its next witness.

“It will be against all procedure of trial to say I want to continue when my client is lying down and I don’t know whether he is dead or alive,” Etiaba said.

But the judge refused Etiaba’s application to withdraw from the trial, saying “it is an attempt to delay this trial”.

The lawyer however, while he remained in the court, insisted that he had withdrawn from the case.

He refused to offer further contributions even when asked for by the judge.

Metuh, who with his company, Destra Investment Limited, is being prosecuted by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission for the N400m he allegedly received fraudulently from the Office of the National Security Adviser in 2014, fell down, shortly after the case was called on Monday.

The incident happened at about 9.01am in the courtroom on Monday.

Metuh, who was seated in the courtroom close to the dock before the trial judge, Justice Okon Abang, began sitting.

But Metuh fell as he was moving towards the dock.

The judge had to stand down the matter to enable medical officials to attend to the defendant.

The court’s medical officials, whose attention were called after the incident, entered the courtroom at about 9.19am.

On resuming sitting, the judge asked three of the court’s officials to narrate what happened.

They all said Metuh defied the judge’s warning not to go to the dock but to remain seated in his position.

One of the doctors who attended to Metuh has informed the judge that the defendant needed to see his doctor.

When the judge asked him for his opinion, EFCC’s lawyer, Mr. Sylvanus Tahir, did not oppose the application ‎stop hearing to enable the defendant to see his doctor.

cC: lalasticlala
http://punchng.com/judge-rejects-defence-lawyers-request-to-withdraw-after-metuhs-fall/

Where lalasticlala

lalasticlala

Elder001:
it is finished.......
with those videos currently trending only God knows what the IGP will do to saraki...

it is finished.. I knew it the moment the criminals were ordered to be taken to the force headquarters in abuja


Senate can't summon IGP but IGP can invite senators.

which kind of democracy are we even practising

That's if we have anything called democracy

Alphasoar:
It is with deep regret that we wish to announce the death of our brother Mr Democracy. he was single handedly murdered by selfish politicians

A minute silence please...

gbam

let the transition transformation of the IGP blame begin

The murder suspects recently arrested by the Kwara State Police Command in Ilorin last week and transported to Abuja, have named the Senate President, Bukola Saraki, Kwara State governor, Abdulfattah Ahmed, as their sponsors.

This was contained in the confessional statement made by the suspects, according to SaharaReporters.

The suspects reportedly confessed to have been on the payroll of the Kwara State government and Mandate Office of Saraki.

One of the suspects and leader of the killer squad, who is the son of Salihu Woru, the spokesman of Magajis in Ilorin Emirate, told the police that he was placed on salary Grade Level 16, while his colleagues are on Levels 10 to 15.

The suspects also said that they were being paid from the Office of the Senate President, who allegedly gave them Toyota Corolla cars a few months ago as a way of securing the loyalty ahead of the 2019 elections.

The suspects, in their statement, reportedly said those marked on their list for execution before the election are: Kayode Oyin, Yinka Aluko, Baba Rex, one Mustapha and one Ogunlowo.

A Police source told the online platform that bank statements retrieved from the suspects indicated that they received money on a monthly basis from Saraki and the Kwara State government.

According to the report, the Senate President and Ahmed may soon be invited by the Police.

DAILY POST recalls that the Senate President had on Wednesday raised an alarm during plenary of a plan by the Inspector General of Police, Ibrahim Idris to implicate him using some arrested murder suspects.

Cc: lalasticlala
http://dailypost.ng/2018/05/18/igp-idris-murder-suspects-reportedly-identify-saraki-kwara-govt-sponsors/

post=67645396:
......he lives to fight another day.

COWARD!!

you dey vex o

Justice Olasumbo Goodluck of FCT High Court, Maitama, on Thursday adjourned indefinitely the trial of Senator Dino Melaye, being tried for allegedly giving false information.

Melaye, representing Kogi West, was dragged to court on two counts bordering on giving false information, offences he denied committing.

The News Agency of Nigeria recalls that the judge, on Wednesday, adjourned until May 17, and ordered the defence counsel to take appropriate steps to explain the absence of the defendant in court.

Goodluc, in her ruling on Thursday on a motion for adjournment by Mr. Ricky Tarfa (SAN), Melaye’s counsel, held that the prosecution did not doubt the health problem of the senator.

“From the gamut of the entire facts placed before the court, the prosecution did not controvert the fact that the defendant was in the National Hospital’s Intensive Care Unit.’’

The judge, therefore, adjourned the case sine die (indefinitely) pending the recovery of the senator from his illness.

Earlier, Tarfa, in an application to justify the senator’s absence, informed the court that his client was still lying critically ill at the National Hospital.

He tendered a medical report, signed by one Dr. Olaniran, Director of Medical Services at the National Hospital, Abuja, which confirmed that the senator was being managed at the ICU.

Tarfa urged the judge to consider the ill health of the lawmaker as a special circumstance that warranted his absence from trial.

He urged the court to adjourn the trial pending the time his client would recuperate from the sickness, and be able to stand before the court to answer the two counts against him.

Responding, the prosecuting counsel, Mr. Magaji Labaran, urged the court to discountenance the exhibits attached to the defendant’s affidavit, as they did not meet the requirements of the Law.

He added that the elements in the medical reports did not indicate that the defendant cannot come to court to stand trial.

cC: lalasticlala

http://punchng.com/abuja-court-adjourns-melayes-case-indefinitely-on-health-grounds/

transmission transission

lalasticlala

EzendiEgo1:
fear of the unknow

nothing dey happen jor

EzendiEgo1:
This guy is crossing boundaries



be very careful

or else?

Reno Omokri, former New Media aide to ex-President Goodluck Jonathan has urged President Muhammadu Buhari’s wife, Aisha, to warn her husband about the acting Chairman of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC, Ibrahim Magu.

Omokri said Aisha should warn the President to do something about Magu before the fate of the late Head of State, Sani Abacha befalls him.

He issued the warning while criticising the decision of Magu to wear a lapel of Buhari during an interview on national television.

In a tweet, the United States-based pastor wrote, “If @aishambuhari loves her husband, she should warn him to do something about Magu quickly. God is not mocked.

“The last time public servants wore the image of a man on their clothes was under Abacha and God answered Abacha. We have a jealous God who will not tolerate a man god!

“Someone should remind Ibrahim Magu it was the PDP that created EFCC not Buhari. And in 16 years that the PDP governed Nigeria, not one of the chairmen of the EFCC ever wore a lapel pin promoting the reelection of the PDP President that appointed him. Magu is a shameful aberration.”

Cc: lalasticlala

http://dailypost.ng/2018/05/17/warn-husband-magu-buhari-wont-suffer-abachas-fate-omokri-tells-aisha/

let's see how it turn out

The Senate has released list of lawmakers that will accompany President of the Senate, Dr Bukola Saraki to meet with President Muhammadu Buhari.

DAILY POST gathered that the meeting will be holding Wednesday night.

The 10-man delegation will discuss the alleged attempt to implicate Saraki in a criminal matter.

This followed an explanation on the matter by Saraki at senate plenary on Wednesday.

Members of the delegation are the Leader of the Senate, Ahmed Lawan, the Chief Whip, Olusola Adeyeye, Minority Whip, Godswill Akpabio, Sen. Oluremi Tinubu (APC-Lagos) and Sen. Raji Rasaki (APC-Ekiti).

Others are Sen. Aliyu Wammakko (APC-Sokoto), Sen. Sam Egwu (PDP-Ebonyi), Sen. Danjuma Goje (APC-Gombe) and Sen. Abdullahi Adamu (APC-Nasarawa).

Cc: lalasticlala

http://dailypost.ng/2018/05/16/igp-idris-tinubu-8-others-attend-sarakis-meeting-buhari/

Justice Olasunbo Goodluck of the High Court of the Federal Capital Territory, Maitama, Abuja, on Wednesday ordered lawyers to the embattled Senator Dino Melaye, who is grappling with multiple criminal charges, to, within 24 hours, explain the absence of the senator from court proceedings.

The court gave the order on Wednesday, the same day the High Court of Kogi State in Lokoja delivered a ruling on a bail application filed by Melaye who was said to be in Police custody.

The Lokoja court granted Melaye bail in absentia, with a surety for N10m.

Melaye’s absence from the Abuja court on Wednesday prevented the prosecution from opening its case in respect of the two counts of giving false information concerning an assassination attempt on his life to the Police in April 2017.

In the case, the senator was accused of deliberately giving false information to the Police to frame Mr. Edward Onoja David, who is the Chief of Staff to Governor Yahaya Bello of Kogi State.

Melaye had cited David as the mastermind of the alleged assassination attempt.

The police said they discovered the alleged falsehood in Melaye’s claim while investigating the alleged attempt on his life at his hometown in Ayetoro-Gbede in Kogi State.

The senator, on March 1, 2018, pleaded not guilty to the charges filed against him by the Office of the Attorney-General of the Federation on January 31, 2018.

He is facing two other charges, one of which bordered on gun-running, before a Magistrate’s Court in Lokoja, Kogi State.

The other set of charges filed before a Magistrate’s Court in Abuja included an attempted suicide, which he allegedly committed by jumping off a Police vehicle while under arrest.

At the Wednesday’s hearing of the alleged frame-up case before the FCT High Court in Abuja, the prosecuting counsel, Mr. Magaji Labaran, said that he was set to open his case by calling the first prosecution witness, but expressed worry over the defendant’s absence.

Labaran urged the judge to summon the person standing as surety for the bail granted the senator to explain the defendant’s whereabouts to the court.

But defence counsel, Mr. Rickey Tarfa (SAN), said Labaran did not give “a fair representation” of the facts leading to the defendant’s absence from court.

Tarfa said Melaye, while lying on a stretcher, was arraigned on the charges of attempted suicide before the Magistrate’s Court in Abuja, on May 2, 2018.

The court granted him bail, but the Police re-arrested him on the court premises and moved him to Lokoja the next day to face the gun-running charges.

According to the SAN, the Magistrate’s Court in Lokoja refused to grant bail to the senator, but a fresh application for his bail was promptly filed before the High Court of Kogi State in Lokoja.

He said the Lokoja High Court had fixed Wednesday (today) for its ruling on the bail application, but in the interim, ordered the Police to move the senator from the prison, where he was remanded by the Magistrate’s Court, to Abuja where he must be given adequate medical care by the Police.

Tarfa said that explained why his client was absent from the Wednesday’s proceedings.

Cc: lalasticlala

http://punchng.com/abuja-court-orders-defence-lawyer-to-explain-melayes-absence/

Lawmaker representing Delta Central Senatorial District, Senator Ovie Omo-Agege, was at the Senate chamber this morning. He signed the attendance register and left.

The lawmaker, who was absent on Tuesday when he said he was resuming, had told The PUNCH exclusively that he would be at the Senate on Wednesday (today).

“(I) Will be at plenary tomorrow, God will,” a text message in response to our correspondent’s enquiry on his absence on Tuesday read.

Details later…



http://punchng.com/breaking-omo-agege-resumes-signs-register-leaves-senate-chamber/

The new size of the 2018 budget is N9.120trn.

This is contained in the report of the National Assembly joint Committees on Appropriation just presented to members.

The new figure has a difference of about N508bn, up from the N8.612tn presented by President Muhammadu Buhari on November 7, 2017.

According to the document laid at the House on Tuesday, N530,421,368,624 was proposed for statutory transfer; N2,869,600,351,825 for development fund for capital expenditure; N3,516,477,902,077 for recurrent (non debt) expenditure; while N2,203,835,365,699 is for debt service; and N199bn as sinking fund for maturing loan.

Details later…

Cc: lalasticlala

http://punchng.com/2018-budget-up-from-n8-612tn-to-n9-120trn/