Kogi Magistrate Sends Dino Melaye To Prison

A senior magistrate court sitting in Lokoja, Thursday ordered that Senator Dino Melaye representing Kogi West Senatorial District be remanded along with two others in the police custody till June 11.

Melaye who came into the hospital with a stretcher was brought to the court on a six-count charge that bordered on illegal possession of firearms, criminal conspiracy and illegal transfer of firearms, among others.

When the charge sheet was read, the prosecution counsel, Alex Izinyon while citing relevant laws said the allegations levelled against the accused persons were too weighty and not ordinarily bailable.

He, therefore, prayed the court to remand senator Dino Melaye at the prison custody while the two accused persons who implicated Melaye, namely Kabiru Seidu aka Osama and Nuhu Salisu aka small be remanded at the police custody

Counsel to senator Dino Melaye, Mike Ozokheme, while objecting to the prayer of the prosecution, moved for Melaye’s bail citing that with section 97 subsection 2 of the penal code and section 56 of the Kogi State administration of criminal justice law the offences are bailable

He also presented two medical reports from the national hospital which signified that Melaye is bedridden owing to a spinal chord injury he sustained, adding that he can not jump bail.

He stressed that as a vocal senator of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, he could not have jumped bail.

The defendants counsel also pleaded with the trial judge to consider the bail application, saying his client has been with the police since April 24 and was released on bail on Wednesday by an Abuja Magistrate Court only to be re-arrested by the police.

But the prosecution counsel, Alex Iziyon objected the bail application saying Melaye had earlier escaped from a lawful police custody and that for the counsel to say he was a vocal senator “means he is influential and can move and unmove anything”.

The trial judge Magistrate Suleiman Abdullah while giving his ruling said the court had listened carefully to the submissions of both counsels and concluded that the case was not bailable.

He, therefore, ordered that all the three accused persons be remanded at the police custody while Melaye should be allowed access to his medication, and adjourned the case till June 11 for a mention.