Dino Melaye Shares Thoughts About Nigerian President-elect Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu

A member of the Senate in eight National Assembly and spokesperson for the Peoples Democratic Party Presidential Campaign Council, Dino Melaye, tells FRIDAY OLOKOR his thoughts on the February 25 presidential election and his grouse with the declaration of the presidential candidate of the All Progressives Congress, Asiwaju Bola Tinubu, as the winner by the Independent National Electoral Commission.

Despite the declaration of Asiwaju Bola Tinubu as the winner of the presidential election, the PDP seems optimistic that it will win at the tribunal, yet the APC and the Labour Party are also confident that they won the election; what are your party’s chances?

I will start by telling you that there is no need trivialising issues, Atiku Abubakar won the presidential election, we have our polling units results; polling units by polling units and these have long been collated. It’s been put together and Atiku Abubakar actually won the election clearly with over four million votes and I can tell you that by the grace of God that will be proven in court. There is no gainsaying that INEC compromised because INEC became like the department of APC in this election.

We cried foul when the computation and collation started but the chairman of INEC ignored our cry and statements. All INEC promised were not fulfilled; there was a deliberate plan to pronounce Bola Tinubu as the President.

INEC Chairman, Prof Mahmood Yakubu, was in a hurry to the extent that when Nigerians were sleeping at 4am like a thief in the night, they made a pronouncement. What is the hurry about? Why were they desperately in a hurry? Why will they be awake at 4am? Why won’t they do it in broad daylight? Why were they very desperate? Why was computation going at 1am, 2am, 3am and 4am in the morning when Nigerians were sleeping, only for them to wake up to the announcement that Tinubu has emerged as the president of this country. Tinubu should cover his face in shame.

Why do you say that?

No President of this country has emerged with just eight million votes, even from the fake result that was published, which undermined the actual results after suppressing votes. From the results that were released, put together the votes of the PDP, Labour Party and other political parties, over 16 million people rejected Tinubu at the poll. That means more Nigerians rejected him than those he claimed voted for him, so there is no legitimacy for that kind of government.

Olisa Agbakoba (SAN), wrote to INEC to inform the commission about the 25 per cent of the Federal Capital Territory stated in the constitution and the need for INEC to be cautious and make sure that is clarified before they make a pronouncement, but INEC ignored Agbakoba’s cry. Nigerians shouted, I shouted but INEC was in a hurry. They discountenanced the issue of 25 per cent of the FCT.

There was nobody who became president in this democratic dispensation who did not have 25 per cent in Abuja. This is the first time we are having a president, who did not have 25 per cent in Abuja and he was declared the winner.

These show the level of collusion, desperation and compromise on the part of INEC and its national chairman. So, automatically I am telling you it cannot stand and it will not stand. We have resolved that by the grace of the Almighty God, we shall get to the end of this and Atiku is going to lead the fight in the struggle to recover our mandate.

What made you think Atiku won?

Our votes were suppressed in Jigawa, Sokoto, Kano, Borno and Rivers states. What we had was not an election. What we had was not a collation of results. What we had was allocation of votes by INEC. Let nobody celebrate that the Labour Party won Lagos; it was deliberately allocated to the Labour Party knowing full well that LP will not have the spread and the 25 per cent in two-thirds of the states across the country. The Labour Party, up till now, had two-thirds only in 16 states.

They need nine more states. So, even if you increase the figure of LP in the areas where they won, they cannot meet up with the 25 per cent in two thirds requirement. The constitution and the people want a president that will be nationalistic and accepted in every nook and cranny of the country.

Even the 700,000 votes that was given to Rabiu Kwankwaso in Kano State was an allocation, just to keep his mouth shut. They know that he will not go beyond Kano, so giving him that vote is not injurious to them but it also gave them the opportunity to lift their votes in Kano to over 400,000. Like I said, they suppressed our votes in several states and increased their votes.

That was what they did across the country. So, it is a complete disappointment and very shameful. That was why we called for outright cancellation of the election.

In Nigeria’s history, nobody declared by INEC as President has been sacked by the tribunal or Supreme Court, do you think the PDP can change this narrative this time around?

We are going to change the narrative this time round. What happened in this election has never happened in any election in Nigeria. This is the worst election in the history of this country. Even when FEDECO (Federal Electoral Commission) was organising elections we did not have this type of election, now in the 21st century when there is technology, you conducted daylight robbery.

It won’t be entertained. Anyone who betrays Nigeria this time will face international condemnation and will be dragged to the people’s opinion court. This time round, justice must prevail. We are ready to do anything within the confines of the law to make sure that justice is done. This is not an election where you will come and tell Nigerians that because of national interest and it is not an election they will come and tell us about technicalities.

Nigerians will not take it. The case must be decided on their merit not on technicalities. We have seen countries in Africa that had reruns. The certificate of return that Tinubu received is temporary and he is going to return it. At a press briefing by Atiku Abubakar a week ago, you kept referring to Atiku as the president-elect and some people said it was inciting and a violation of the law when INEC already declared a winner. Why did you do that?

There is no violation because it was INEC that actually broke the law. The law in section 60, Section 64(4), section 65(1) of the Electoral Act 2022 as amended is clear. I have more than 60 places where the chairman of INEC assured Nigerians that elections will be held, results will be transmitted from polling units to the server and that is why electronic transmission of results was inserted in our law but they did not do that and I confronted him physically with this and he had no answers.

At the end of the day, the umpire has broken the law, so the product of a failed process can never be legitimate, neither can it be acceptable. We are not even interested in who wins or does not win, we are saying we have problem with the process.

Your party accused the APC of vote-buying, but a lawmaker and an ally of Atiku in Rivers State, Chinyere Igwe, was allegedly caught with $498,000; did that money come from Atiku or the man was on his own being an aspirant himself?

He may be a member of the PDP but when you say ally of Atiku I don’t understand what you mean because up till now nobody has been able to directly link him with Atiku. Rather he is an ally. I know him to be an ally of Governor Nyesom Wike because he was my colleague in the House of Representatives and he has been in the House for three terms. He was a commissioner during Wike’s first term and Wike helped to get him to the National Assembly for the third time. So, he is more of Wike’s ally than Atiku’s ally. I know that one who has gone to the House of Representatives three times, having been a commissioner, I know he has a filling station, he has a hotel, so having $500,000 ideally should not be a problem for somebody of his status.

But since the matter is before the police and investigation is going on, I would like to end it here. We have a law in this country, the All Progressives Congress monetised this election. They deceived Nigerians. They told Nigerians that there was naira redesign and they were playing a script. They even went to court. That was a scam. At the end of the day, they were the ones sharing new notes everywhere. I personally saw money being shared before we chased some people away from Aiyetoro. So, automatically the whole thing was a scam, Nigerians were scammed, INEC scammed us, APC scammed us, the governors of APC scammed us, Buhari scammed us, everything was orchestrated just to deceive Nigerians, it is a big deception.

A few days ago, a former governor of Ekiti State, Ayo Fayose, said he called on Atiku to run for one term and that this would have swayed more voters to his side but that his supporters rejected the idea. Is that true?

Never take anything from Fayose seriously, I won’t say more than that.

Why do you say that?

Take anything from Fayose seriously at your own peril. Where did he sit down with Atiku to offer Atiku one term? Can Ayo Fayose sit in front of Atiku and say we are offering you one term? And what was Atiku’s response? Now Fayose feels the election has been lost and he should quickly begin to interact with the winners. He can say anything he wants to say but I am telling you again, don’t take him seriously.

Some people believe that by virtue of age, this could be Atiku’s last chance to contest that office. Do you see that possibility too?
Only God can determine anybody’s chance, no man can determine anybody’s chance. My father is 94, he still drives himself around, he drives himself even from Aiyetoro down to Lokoja. He is healthier than some 50, 60 years old people. So, you cannot determine the health status, strength, capacity of any individual. Only God can determine that.

What of the view by some people that he was desperate?

President Joe Biden of the United States is older than Atiku and he is running for a second term.

What is next for you?

I have obtained forms for the governorship of Kogi State. I have submitted my form, the screening is next week, the primary is on April 14, the general election will be in November and I definitely have a very strong feeling that I will win.

The race for the senate presidency has started, how do you think it will play out?

It is normal after elections to have lots of discussions on who should be the senate president. However, they should not celebrate until we hold another presidential election because the table will turn.

Some people would wonder why you are always against Tinubu. What do you say to that?

I am not a critic of Asiwaju Bola Tinubu. I am a critic of injustice. I am a critic of anything that is not righteous. I have children growing up in this country, I have young teenagers and I want to bequeath to them a country they will be very proud of. I don’t want my kids who are schooling in America to be laughed at by their friends, I will not want that for my children or my country. So, I have nothing personal against Tinubu. I never had any political, economic, financial or electoral relationship with him and he has never snatched any of my girlfriends, there is nothing that should pitch him against me. In an unjust society, silence is a crime. I want the best for this country and I do not think a drug baron is the best for this country. So, nothing personal. It’s in the interest of this country.

A lot of people believe that PDP lost the presidential election because of the G-5 governors. Do you rule out that possibility?

I disagree absolutely. Atiku won the election irrespective of Wike or the G-5 governors. Atiku demonstrated capacity irrespective of Wike and the G-5. Atiku did not lose the election. I just told you that by our computation, Atiku won with over four million votes. I want to tell you that Wike is like Maradona, he will dribble everybody but at the end of the day score with his hand. Nigerians are wiser. How did the G-5 end up? Is it not a story of shame and regret today? Ortom is busy in Benue appealing to people. Wike will be disappointed because the APC will not work with him despite working for Asiwaju. At the end of the day, Atiku will be the President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria. Write it down.

You maintained that PDP won, but your vice-presidential candidate and Governor of Delta State, Ifeanyi Okowa, lost his state to the Labour Party. How did you lose Delta?

What happened in Delta State is a reflection of the massive organised rigging by INEC. I am not saying that the Labour Party did not have some influence in Delta, but I am telling you that there was suppression of PDP votes also in Delta State.

How is that possible, with your vice-presidential candidate as a sitting governor?

The sitting governor can only demonstrate capacity if you have a neutral INEC but where INEC is compromised, there is nothing he can do. That is why we are saying the election should be cancelled because there was compromise at all levels.

There are people who feel the cost of re-organising an election is huge, do you think the country can afford that right now?

Anyone who says education is expensive should try ignorance. If you think democracy is too expensive, try stratocracy. There is no price too much for democracy because justice, equity, fairness and transparency are the ideals. The voices and the votes of Nigerians must count. I repeat that eight million is too ridiculous for anybody to be president in a nation of over 220 million people. It is extremely insignificant, it is not even up to 10 per cent of the population of the country. It means over 18 million people voted against him. That is why the country is in a mourning state and there is no jubilation or excitement anywhere. That is what happens when you have an illegitimate pronouncement. My advice and the way out for Prof Mahmood Yakubu is to resign immediately because he has lost legitimacy, credibility and integrity to continue as INEC chairman. We will not keep quiet. We will continue to agitate until he resigns from that position. He cannot in his good conscience continue to be INEC chairman.