FG arraigns Dino Melaye for the 12th Time in one year

…As FCT High Court grants him bail on existing conditions

By Our reporter

Few days after he recorded a resounding victory to return to the senate, the Senator representing Kogi West, Dino Melaye, was on Monday morning arraigned before a Federal Capital Territory High Court in Maitama on allegations of resisting police arrest.

The latest arraignment makes it the 12th time the lawmaker will be arraigned by both the Federal Government and the Nigeria Police before various courts in Abuja and Lokoja, the Kogi state capital.

It would be recalled that operatives of the Nigeria Police had in December 2018 stormed Melaye’s private residence in Maitama, Abuja and laid a siege to the property for a week, a development the lawmaker described as illegal and a violation of his rights.

Upon submitting himself to the authorities, the Police in January, 2019 arraigned the Melaye alongside his security guard for allegedly resisting arrest and was subsequently granted bail on health ground.

The bail conditions included the Clerk to the National Assembly writing a letter assuring the court that the National Assembly will provide Melaye anytime he is needed with two sureties with evidence of property in Abuja.

But this Monday, the Federal Government took over the case and amended the charges initially preferred against the lawmaker, to include speaking to journalists and making tweets on his social media handles while in hiding.

However, the presiding judge of the FCT High Court, Justice Yusuf Halilu subsequently granted Melaye a fresh bail on the existing conditions.