…Says ‘No Democracy in Nigeria presently, we are practicing Greedocracy-the Government of the Greedy, by the Greedy, and for the Greedy, He’s wearing an oversized shoe, He has proven more than ever before that Nigeria is not Lagos, we will prove that what happened in Tunisia can happen in Nigeria. The people’s Will’
*‘2027 Election is Tinubu versus the Will of the People; we will make Tinubu a One-Term President. People are dying of hunger. People now eat from the garbage. People are committing suicide. Our Naira is failing at an alarming rate. The currency of Chad and Niger is now more valuable than the Nigerian Naira’
*’Tinubu wants to be coronated like an Igwe, like a Kabiyesi, like an Emir. He does not want an election. He does not want opposition. He is the most reckless, most unproductive president in the history of the world’
*‘We are going to stand up to Tinubu. We are going to do everything within the ambit of law to show him that government is not owned by those in government; Government is owned by the people. The government has been owing contractors for jobs executed since 2024 and we are in 2026. They are still implementing the budget for 2024’
*‘President Muhammadu Buhari, in eight years in power with subsidy, borrowed 87 trillion naira. Tinubu, in less than three years in power without subsidy, has borrowed close to 200 trillion naira’
*‘Tinubu took one of our most precious national honours, GCON, exclusively reserved for the Vice President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, put it in a briefcase, and took it to Paris to decorate his Chagoury’s friend’
*“My fear is that Tinubu will lead this country to a warpath because he will try to rig and there will be vehement resistance. The court is supposed to be the last hope of the common man, not the last hope of the highest bidder. Since Nigeria’s Independence, all the presidents of this country have always used a Mercedes-Benz S-Class. Tinubu is the first president who came to power and said he cannot use an S-Class, he decided to use the Beast, the same car that the President of the United States uses, costing more than 20 times what the S-Class would cost. If you speak the truth, you will die. If you lie, you will die. So, I, Dino Melaye, have chosen to speak the truth and die”-MELAYE
IN politics of the most populous black nation in the world, there is no one so daring, who fears no fear like him. He’s a personality who bares his mind freely on any issue without fear or favor. As at today, no Nigerian politician carries the same lightening, storm of expression or electricity of speech like him into any room. He’s a man who refuses to bow to fear or lower his voice on any matter he places his mind. He strongly believes in the same absolute certitude that speaking the truth, however dangerous, however costly, will ensure your integrity is not stained. Barrister Daniel Dino Melaye, born January 7, 1974, in Kano State, and raised in the heartland of Ayetoro Gbede, Ijumu Local Government Area of Kogi state, is, in the most literal sense, a man who has spent his entire public life daring Nigeria to silence him, yet, still standing on his Biblical saying that: “Only the truth can set you free”.
This Senator and Barrister’s names are Dino Melaye, a man whose ascent into national attention began not in the chambers of power but in the crucible of student politics. He’s a holder of 10 degrees from respected higher institutions in four continents around the world and he is on the 11th one, while doing his master’s degree in law. Melaye led the National Association of Nigerian Students (NANS) before rising to serve as Secretary-General of the African Youth Council and subsequently the Commonwealth Youth Council. His profile in youth governance attracted international recognition, which was why former President Olusegun Obasanjo appointed him to chair the Presidential Advisory Council on Youths, a posting that then signaled that this was a young man Nigeria could not ignore.
Melaye entered the House of Representatives representing Kabba/Ijumu Federal Constituency in Kogi State, and in 2015, made his defining leap to the Senate, winning the Kogi West Senatorial District seat and becoming one of the most visible members of the 8th National Assembly. There, under the administration of President Muhammadu Buhari, he made waves that went far beyond party loyalty. He seconded the nomination of Senator Bukola Saraki as Senate President, catalyzing one of the most consequential legislative battles of that era. He sponsored over 20 bills and moved more than 30 motions, including landmark legislation on anti-lynching and public safety, domestic violence, subsidy payment discrepancies in the oil sector, and the establishment of a Federal University of Agriculture in Kabba, Kogi State.
Through it all, whether in the Senate chamber, on social media, at rallies, or in television studios, Melaye remained the same creature: unbridled, unsilenced, dressed in the finest contemporary fashion, speaking the words that others calculated and swallowed. In July 2025, he resigned from the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), citing the party’s failure to rescue Nigeria from what he called the “prevailing political cankerworms,” and formally joined the African Democratic Congress (ADC), declaring simply via his verified X account: “SDM fully ADC.”
In this International Interview with the Editorial Board of Naija Standard Newspaper Inc USA, Senator, Barrister Dino Melaye holds absolutely nothing back., he looked truth in the face and dares it. He speaks on judicial rascality, the ADC deregistration plot, the presidency of Bola Ahmed Tinubu, his philosophy of life, his dress sense, and why he counts visits to mortuaries among his most cherished private moments as REPORTED BY FAVOUR BOLUWATIFE PHILIP/SOUTH WEST CORRESPONDENT, NIGERIA/Naija Standard Newspaper Inc USA
*NAIJA STANDARD: You are an outstanding politician in Nigeria, an outstanding lawyer. You have your positive imprints everywhere in Nigeria for posterity’s sake. The world is proud of you. The Africa Community is proud of you. Let us go to the matter of the moment. The Supreme Court ruled that the African Democratic Congress (ADC) can go ahead and have the names of all their officers enlisted in the Independent National Electoral commission (INEC) portal. Surprisingly, the Federal High Court is now daringly saying that INEC should deregister same, a ruling that runs counter to a superior court’s decision and that many observers regard as a flagrant act of judicial corruption. What is your take on that?
*SENATOR DINO: To start with, Democracy, simply defined as government of the people, by the people, and for the people. But the conduct of some judges, some politicians, and indeed the All Peoples Congress (APC), is redefining democracy. Instead of having Democracy, what we have in Nigeria today is Greedocracy, which is Government of the greedy, by the greedy, and for the greedy. And this has permeated into the judiciary. What happened yesterday is a total shame.
And I do hope that the National Judicial Council (NJC), under the chairmanship of the Chief Justice of the Federation, will quickly, urgently, as a matter of national importance, ameliorate and palliate the situation by making sure that this judge faces the National Judicial Council and is punished for the judicial rascality that was exercised yesterday. For a judge of the Federal High Court to ignore the order of the Appeal Court is not only a judicial disaster, but it also pertains a very colossal threat to Democracy in Nigeria. There was a very straightforward order by the Court of Appeal, asking the lower court to stay action, pending determination of the case by the Court of Appeal.
And this order is public knowledge. And the Court of Appeal adjourned the matter to sometime in October. Then for a lower court to now disregard the order of the Court of Appeal, that is a danger to Democracy.
And again, there are conditions and conditionalities stipulated in the Constitution and in the electoral acts as to how a party can be deregistered. The courts have no power to deregister a party. Only INEC has been empowered to deregister political parties if they fail to meet the extant provisions of our laws. And there are only two conditions: One of the conditions is if the party fails to produce a member in the National Assembly, in the State House of Assembly, or if they are unable to make 25% in any state of the Federal Republic of Nigeria. Obviously, ADC cannot be in that category.
The ADC, in the last election, produced two members of the House of Representatives. Honourable Leke Abejide, who is representing Yagba Federal Constituency in Kogi State. Honourable Salman Idris, who is representing Kabba-Bunu/Ijumu Federal Constituency of Kogi State. And the ADC also produced three members of the House of Assembly in three states. So, ADC cannot be one of those who have failed to meet the minimum requirement for deregistration. But for Judge Peter Lifu of the Federal High Court, Abuja to add his name to Judge Egbo Egbo and the infamous Justice Bassey Ikpeme, who annulled the June 12, 1993, presidential election in Nigeria, he has added his name to these infamous judges who have turned justice and the judiciary upside down.
It is a big shame. People are afraid to speak the truth. As a lawyer, I am cautioned not to criticize the judiciary. But I have always said, and I have a popular quote: if you speak the truth, you will die. If you lie, you will die. So, I, Dino Melaye, have chosen to speak the truth and die because the truth has no volume. If you increase it, it is no longer the truth. If you reduce it, it is no longer the truth. We are in perilous times. We are in times of vicissitude and vacillation in this country. We are in very critical times. And the court is supposed to be the last hope of the common man. Not the last hope of the highest bidder.
*NAIJA STANDARD: The whole world is seeing the methods being deployed by the APC-led government. People are asking: what is APC afraid of? The African Democratic Congress is currently the most formidable opposition party in Nigeria. Yet the APC appears to be using every backdoor method to create crises and cut off the opposition. What is APC afraid of? And is Nigeria turning into a monarchy under Tinubu?
*SENATOR DINO: The holy book says the guilty runs when no one is chasing him. That is the story of Bola Ahmed Tinubu. Tinubu is afraid. He is scared; he is jittery. And being jittery has now catapulted into desperation. This desperation made him procure opposition governors. And today he claims he has between 31 and 33 governors in his kitty. Out of 36. So, a man who says he has got 33 or 32 governors in his kitty and over 70% or 80% of the National Assembly in his kitty, why is he afraid? And what is he afraid of?
Tinubu is afraid to conduct an election. He does not want election. He does not want opposition. He does not want any political party on the ballot apart from the APC. Tinubu wants to be coronated. Like Igwe, like a Kabiyesi, like an Emir. He wants to be coronated as president of the Federal Republic of Nigeria. He does not want election.
So that is why you see every shenanigan, every scheme to make sure that there are no other political parties on the ballot apart from the APC. You can see what they want to do in Osun state. That is why Accord Party is also among the five targeted parties to make sure that they stop Governor Ademola Adeleke so that they can have their way in Osun state. But unfortunately, he (Tinubu) is a terrible student of history. All tyrants are cowards when confronted. In an unjust society, silence is a crime. We have resolved and we have decided that we have no other country to call our own apart from this country.
We are going to stand up to Tinubu. We are going to chase him. We are going to do everything within the ambit of law to show him that government is not owned by those in government. Government is owned by the people. And we are going to tell him that history has shown that no matter how draconian, no matter how brutal, no matter how satanic, no matter how nefarious, no matter how vicious a leader is, at the end of the day, it is the will of the people that will prevail.
Tinubu always forgets that there is a God in the affairs of man. Sani Abacha was Head of State. He wanted to be president. All five political parties had endorsed him. There was no election. He (Abacha) was already cruising himself into the presidency. But God picked his call and said, “Sani, I want to see you.” And whenever God calls you, there is no network failure. And God has not gone on holiday. That God is alive. So, Tinubu should watch it, because at the end of the day, there is a God in the affairs of man.
Tinubu is very insensitive. He is the number one, I-don’t-give-a-damn, I-don’t-care president of the world. In the midst of outrageous killings, as a result of his incapacitation and incapability, as a result of his porous security architecture, people are dying. Three generals have been killed. A king was abducted and killed in Kwara State. Children are still in the wilderness, abducted by kidnappers. In my own area in Kogi State, a six-year-old child was killed. The vice-principal of a secondary school in Iluke community, Bunu District of Kabba/Bunu LGA, Kogi State, was killed. A 70-year-old man was shot dead.
And this man jetted out of this country in his normal jet-setting lifestyle and went to China. The massacre and terrible, ignominious thing that happened in Ogbomosho, and today, no minister has gone there. The vice-president has not gone there. The Secretary to the Government has not gone there. The president has not visited. When this Satanic manifestation raised its ugly head in Plateau, the president went there and stayed at the airport, invited families that were bereaved, that are mourning, that are in pain, that their loved ones have been killed because we have no government. The president asked them to drive 40 kilometers to the airport, and he saw them for 10 minutes at the airport and left unceremoniously.
Would that be the case in America, where lives of innocent citizens, children and unborn children were killed? Will President Donald Trump be comfortable in The White House? The president has demonstrated more than ever before that he is wearing an oversized shoe. When, on May 29th, in Eagles Square, where he was sworn in, he had the Holy Quran on his right hand and the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria on the left, and he swore to uphold that constitution, the most potent part of that constitution is Section 14.2(b), Chapter 2 of the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, which states that the most prerogative responsibility of government is the security of lives and properties. The president has failed to provide security, not to talk of welfare.
And once you cannot protect the citizens, the most honourable thing is to resign, meaning you are incapacitated, you are incapable, and you have proven more than ever before that Nigeria is not Lagos. The president is incompetent, is too myopic, too porous, too parochial, too intellectually stagnant to be the president of over 300 million Nigerian people. He does not have the capacity or capability or know-how to govern this country. He calls himself the President and Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, superintending over a failed nation, superintending over a country that he cannot protect. And you cannot give what you do not have. The president is hollow, empty, not physically and mentally stable, is not medically fit to be the president of the Federal Republic of Nigeria. So, my simple advice is for him to resign.
We have never been this low in this country. We have never been this disenchanted, this disillusioned as a people. Hunger has never been this pervasive in this country. Unemployment has never gotten to this level. No power, no health structures, no transportation. People are dying of hunger. There is an astronomical increase in the prices of goods and commodities. Our Naira is failing at an alarming rate. We have become the ridicule of nations. Even the currency of Chad and Niger is now more valuable than the Nigerian Naira. It is time for Tinubu to take a bow.
*NAIJA STANDARD: Due to these abysmal performances of the incumbent president of Nigeria, and due to the alarming rate of insecurity he could not handle, do you also believe that Tinubu, as some school of thoughts said that since Nigerian independence, is the worst president in Nigerian history?
*SENATOR DINO: Tinubu is the worst president in the history of the world. If you say he is the worst president in Nigerian history, you are undervaluing his hollowness and emptiness. Tinubu is the most reckless, is the most unproductive, and most insensitive president in the history of the world.
A president who wakes up one day and grants pardon to 70 drug barons. That is not a people’s president. A president who has borrowed more money than any other president in our history. President Muhammadu Buhari, in eight years, with subsidy, borrowed 87 trillion naira. Tinubu, in less than three years, without subsidy, has borrowed close to 200 trillion naira. And not just borrowing, what has he done with the money? What is there to show for the borrowings? And why are you borrowing after the removal of subsidy? What have you done with it?
Tinubu took one of our most precious national honours, GCON, exclusively reserved for the Vice President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, put it in a briefcase, and took it to Paris to decorate his Chagoury’s friend. He exported our second national, highest national honour to a business partner and friend. There is no month since he became president that he has not travelled out of Nigeria. Do you know the amount of money we have spent on his jet-setting lifestyle? Foreign travels in one year exceeded 20 billion naira. When innocent people cannot afford Panadol, when ulcer patients are dying, when hepatitis patients cannot afford their drugs, when diabetic patients cannot afford their drugs, when hospitals are under lock and key, when students cannot go to school.
Even in the times of war, women and children are exempted. Today, our students are in the wilderness. Three weeks after, among them, there is a five-year-old that was killed. And yet we have a president who behaves as if kerosene is flowing through his veins and not blood. We have a president that is not perturbed. We have a president that is not disturbed.
But there is good news. We are going to stop Tinubu. The people’s power, the people’s Will, will stop Tinubu. 2027 will be different. Our approach will be different. Our defense will be different. Tinubu, we know that we are a pained people. We are a molested generation. We are a deprived people. And we will make sure he knows that true power comes from the people.
He is planning to rig. But we are laughing at him. This time around, we will stop his electoral pilfering. When you push a goat to the wall, you will realise that the goat can bite. We are in a precarious situation. People are dying. Blood is flowing. Insecurity is pervasive. Hunger is killing. People cannot afford. People now eat from the garbage. People are committing suicide. Recent investigations have shown that more people are dying of ulcer because of hunger in Nigeria.
As I am speaking to you, the government is owing contractors for jobs executed since 2024. The last time this government paid any federal government contractor, apart from select cronies, is in the first quarter of 2024. And we are in 2026. They are still implementing the budget of 2024.
This is the first time our president decided, since Tafawa Balewa, since Azikiwe, the presidents of this country have always used a Mercedes-Benz S-Class. Tinubu is the first president who came to power and said he cannot use an S-Class. He decided to use the Beast, the same car that the president of America uses, costing more than 20 times what the S-Class would cost. He bought a new plane. They bought a yacht. He decided that Nigerians can continue to be in darkness and provided solar lights in the villa at the whopping cost of 17 billion naira to the detriment of Nigerians. When your president says he is off the national grid, he is telling you that he has given up on power. Leadership is by example. How can you have solar in the Villa while the palm wine tapper in Umuleri, the poor farmer in Ogbomosho, and the farmer in Dambatta are sleeping by candlelight? Such an insensitive president.
I thought Nigerians should have lights before you would think of the Villa. He is the most insensitive character I have seen. But the good news again is that he is a one-time president. He will see the demonstration of the people’s will this time around. Like the Warri people say, all die na die.
*NAIJA STANDARD: What are your fears for the 2027 election?
*SENATOR DINO: My fear is very simple. That Tinubu will lead this country to a warpath because he will try to rig and there will be vehement resistance. I do not know that we may have a president who will run away because we are not backing down. This time around, enough is enough. We are with the people, and we will speak for the people.
All those in power in this country are less than 1% of the population. It is an absurdity, it is an anathema, that 1% is oppressing 99%. We will prove that what happened in Tunisia can happen in Nigeria. The people’s will.
*NAIJA STANDARD: How can we have a free and fair election in Nigeria when we have a biased umpire in INEC that is supposed to be independent and neutral?
*SENATOR DINO: You see, you do not need to tell a blind man that there is fire on the mountain. You are beginning to see that in the last few weeks; they have started taking a noble position. This country belongs to all of us. Whether INEC, whether Police, whether Army, they are human beings, they are not angels from Heaven. And they come from homes; they come from families. There is blood flowing through their veins. 2027, all I can say, will be different.
*NAIJA STANDARD: What are your philosophies of life?
*SENATOR DINO: My basic philosophy of life is that in an unjust society, silence is a crime. You must speak the truth at all times, irrespective of whose horse is gored. My philosophy about life is to respect the basic tenets in the Holy Bible that says, “Love your neighbour as yourself.” My basic philosophy in life is to fear no soul, but respect souls because the Holy Book says He has not given me the spirit of fear or timidity, He has given me the spirit of boldness and of sound mind. So, I fear no soul. I have conquered fear. There is nothing a mortal being can do to you if not permitted by God. And we are where we are as a country because of fear. That is why I still repeat, if you speak the truth, you will die. If you do not, you will die. So, it is better to speak the truth and die peacefully.
*NAIJA STANDARD: Among all Nigerian politicians, your dress sense is simply in a class of its own. What inspires it? Were there people you looked up to growing up that influenced your style?
*SENATOR DINO: There is no role model when it comes to dressing. I think it is just something I have picked up on the road. It is just something I have inculcated. And it is not a crime to live well, especially if your wealth is not ill-gotten. You should flaunt it because legitimate wealth comes only from God. And when you have legitimate wealth, there is no point hiding. You should eat well, dress well, drive good cars, live in a very comfortable environment. God’s intention is not for you to live in misery. Philippians 4:19 is very, very clear. It says He will grant us all our heart’s desires. So, for me, I am just being Dino. And it proves that they do not call me Dino for nothing. It is not peculiar; it is not unique. I am just being me. I am just being original, who I am, and I will continue to be that. People wonder, you are a Senator, you should not wear tattered jeans, you should always wear Agbada. I told them: they are Senators. But I am a Senator with straight credibility. I am different.
*NAIJA STANDARD: What are your hobbies? What do people not know about the private Dino Melaye?
*SENATOR DINO: I love discoveries. And discovery means operating outside your cocoon. You must move. To discover, you must move. So that is why I am always on the move.
I love reading and studying. I have 10 university degrees. I am on the 11th one. I am doing my master’s in law. I have just finished my academic work. Now I want to start my dissertation. And after this, I will still do a PhD in law. So, I love to learn, because you can never stop learning.
And in my relaxed moments, I love to watch good movies. And people may not know this, but I like to visit strange places. I go to mortuaries. I go there because when I am there, it reminds me where I came from and where I am going to. It reminds me I am not a superhuman being. That one day, I will end up like this.
I love to go to the accident wards of hospitals, to appreciate God that I walked in with my two legs. When you see some condemned legs hanging up there. And I love to go to rehabilitation centres, to see people who have gone through trauma and illness. It reminds me I am still sane. It encourages me to appreciate my maker. I am not special. This grace is unmerited. This favour is undeserved. This mercy is just by grace. So, it reminds you of the special interest of God in you. And you have every reason to say, God, I thank you. It humbles you as a human being, that you do not own yourself. There is somebody who owns you. And it is like a switch. He wants your life, fine. He does not want your life. I think that is who Dino Melaye is.
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