- He claimed that their assassination attempt was the reason why he was asked to face prosecution in Kogi state instead of Abuja for a crime he was accused of
- Melaye said that the governor of Kogi, Yahaya Bello, and the Nigeria police spokesperson, Jimoh Moshood, had colluded against him
The lawmaker representing Kogi West senatorial district in the Senate, Dino Melaye, has said that he uncovered an alleged plan by the Nigeria Police Force and Kogi state government to assassinate him using lethal injection while travelling to Kogi state.
Melaye claimed that the plot was the reason why they insisted on prosecuting him in Kogi instead of Abuja, for a crime he allegedly committed, Premium Times reports.
He said: “I have supporters and I already know their plan. Jimoh Moshood, Nigerian Police spokesperson and Governor Yahaya Bello of Kogi state have colluded against me. I can’t go to Lokoja to defend myself in a court because I doubt I can get to Kogi state alive. This is because they want to use poisonous lethal injection to kill me.”
Melaye said that he was accused by the police of sponsoring thugs with guns at Abuja Airport road.
He said: “Why can’t they take me to court in Abuja? Since I was in the lower chamber and now a senator, I never mingled with political thugs. The police are lying because they said the incident happened in December but failed to say the day and time."
Melaye also denied fleeing the country, saying that nobody notified him with a court summon while he was in Nigeria.
He said: “I just read from Moshood Jimoh press conference that I was supposed to be in court on the 20th of this month. By then I was in Ghana alongside 10 other senators. We attended the international conference on local context.
“Even the publicised issue that I would be declared wanted on the 28th of this month, nobody notified me, either in my office or at home, I am not on the run I am innocent.
“They want to kill me because of the good things I have been doing to the Nigerian masses. We laboured hard to bring this administration to the helm with a sole purpose of serving the poor, to wipe-out their hardship and bring justice. Unfortunately, the reverse is the case.”
The Nigeria Police Force spokesperson, Jimoh Moshood, said that the police cannot inject the lawmakers.
Moshood said: “He said he is having issues in Kogi state and he has to explain whatever he has to say (in Kogi).
“Let him appear in court on the 28th of this month instead of making false accusations, which is also a criminal offence."
Nigeria police issued a message to Senator Dino Melaye asking him to appear before it and comply with the court case against him or risk being declared wanted.
The police issued this statement on Saturday, March 25 and accused the senator of deliberately ignoring the request to appear before it in spite of the message sent to him.
The police said that two suspects who were arrested in Kogi claimed the senator gave them firearms to create social unrest.