Dino Melaye facts for kids

Quick facts for kids Dino Melaye
Senator
In office June 2015 – 11 October 2019
Preceded by	Smart Adeyemi
Succeeded by	Smart Adeyemi
Constituency	Kogi West
Personal details
Born	Dino Daniel Melaye (1974-01-01) 1 January 1974 (age 51) Kano, Nigeria
Political party	People’s Democratic Party (PDP)
Alma mater	Ahmadu Bello University
Website	http://Senatordinomelaye.com

Dino Melaye (born 7 January 1974) is a Nigerian politician, a former senator and was a member of the 8th Nigerian National Assembly, representing Kogi West Senatorial district. He is from Ayetoro Gbede in Ijumu Local Government Area of Kogi State.

Dino Melaye is a former senator and member of the House of Representatives and also a member of the People’s Democratic Party. In 2015 he defected to All Progressives Congress (APC) but returned to PDP in the buildup to 2019 elections after months of political struggle with Kogi State governor. He was the Chairman Senate Committee on Federal Capital Territory (FCT) Abuja. And briefly the Senate Committee Chairman on Aviation in Nigeria. He was the spokesperson of 2023 presidential candidate of People’s Democratic Party, Atiku Abubakar.

Early life and education

Dino Melaye was born in Kano State, Nigeria. He attended Abdulaziz Attah Memorial College, Okene for his secondary school education. He graduated from Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria where he studied geography in 2000. He led the National Association of Nigerian Students (NANS) and later became the Secretary-General of African Youth Council and then that of the Commonwealth Youth Council. He was appointed by President Olusegun Obasanjo to chair the Presidential Advisory Council on Youths.

Political life

In 2015, he decamped to the People's Democratic Party where he was re-elected as a member of the House of Representatives representing Kabba/Ijumu federal constituency.

In the 2015 Senatorial election he was elected a member of the Senate of Nigeria from the Kogi-West.

He seconded the nomination of Senator Bukola Saraki as candidate for the office of President of the Senate following a nomination made by Senator Ahmad Sani Yerima. He was re-elected on 23 February 2019 to return as senator representing kogi-West senatorial district to be a member of the 9th Senate. His main challenger in the election, Sen Adeyemi of the APC approached Election Petitions Tribunal asking the tribunal to annul the election of Melaye. On 23 August 2019 the tribunal sacked Melaye and ordered a re-run election. After several confrontations with the Federal Government and his State Government, Senator Dino Melaye lost his Appeal to retain his senatorial seat on 11 October 2019 and a re-run election was immediately ordered to be conducted by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC). INEC however moved for the election to be conducted on a later date from the State governorship election slated for 16 November 2019; however, Senator Dino Melaye moved and petitioned INEC for his rerun election to be conducted on same day as the state governorship election. Reacting to a claim from Senator Dino that the state Governor, Yahaya Bello, is perfecting plans to rig the election in favor of his favorite candidate, Senator Smart Adeyemi.

Senator Dino Melaye with a margin of over 20,000 votes, lost to his political rival, Smart Adeyemi in an election that was later declared inconclusive by INEC due to violence and electoral irregularities in over 50 Polling Units in the senatorial district. A make-up Election was however fixed for 30 November 2019, after which it was alleged that Senator Dino Melaye was planning to boycott the election, but was however seen casting his vote on the election day.

The supplementary election suffered a low turn out of electorates; this could be due to the high level of harassment, killings, and intimidation faced during the main election. Senator Smart Adeyemi was able to defeat Senator Dino Melaye still maintaining almost the same margin as the general election. The results of the election was however believed to have been tampered with by the State Government in favor of Smart Adeyemi. Smart Adeyemi has since been sworn in as a replacement for Senator Dino Melaye by the Senate President.

Governorship Ambition

Dino Melaye contested for the Kogi State gubernatorial election which was held on 16 November 2019. On 3 September 2019, He lost his gubernatorial ambition in a keenly contested primary election where he came third, with a total of 70 votes behind Engr. Musa Wada who won with 748 votes in count.

He has been declared the winner of the 2023 Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) governorship primary election in Kogi state, to be deputized by Hon. Habeebat Deen.

Bills and Motions Sponsored

Dino Melaye sponsored about 20 bills and moved over 30 motions in the 8th national assembly. One of such bills is "A Bill for an Act to provide for the Establishment of a Federal University of Agriculture, Kabba. During his tenure his government provisions for its due management, administration and other related matters, 2017 (S.B. 402)."

Other bills were passed by his government which was sponsored by him which include: "A Bill for the prohibition of persons from lynching, mob action and extrajudicial executions", It seeks to protect crime suspects from extrajudicial and summary executions by offering statutory protection. The disability integration bill, protection against domestic violence act are other bills sponsored by Sen. Melaye.

He sponsored the bill to checkmate the discrepancies in subsidy Payments and non-remittance of Fund by the NNPC to the Federation Account. 2017.

Dino was said he regretted supporting Buhari in the 2015 general election.

Personal life

Melaye is currently unmarried. He was previously married to Tokunbo Melaye for ten years. She filed for divorce after a case of domestic violence. Tokunbo has three children with Dino.

Authorship

In May 2016, Dino Melaye launched a book titled "Antidotes For Corruption: The Nigerian Story" which received backlash, given the perceived reputation of the author. The backlashes increased at the event as it was headed by the Senate President, Bukola Saraki, and former First Lady of Nigeria, Dame Patience Jonathan, who were both entangled in different corruption cases.

The book was also berated for its poor syntax, as 'antidotes' was expected to take the preposition 'to' against the 'for' that was used in the title. Some quarters also described the book to be a mere "cut and paste" of newspapers articles. suggesting that the book has little or no original intellectual inputs from the author.

Awards and recognitions

Melaye has won several awards, including Best Honourable Representative of the Year by Global Youth Awareness and Development Initiative, Protector of the Youth P.D.P National Youth Vanguard, Epitome of Servant by National Association of Kogi State Students, Youth Libra for Award by the Visioners Club of Kogi State, the Great Motivator of Students by Nigerian Economic Student Association, Icon of Good Leadership by Kogi Peoples Forum, 2008 Diplomatic Member of the year by St Monica’s College Kabba and the most performed National Legislator by Vision 2020 Youth Group. Most vibrant Honourable member, Abuja merit Awards African Parliamentarian of the year 2005 in U.S.A. Melaye also won the 'Senator of the year' award in 2017 and 2018.