See How Senator Dino Melaye Hid On Top of Tree For 11 Hours To Escape Abduction
Senator Dino Melaye who was feared kidnapped last week has
provided a blow-by-blow account of his unpleasant experience to Premium
Times. Dino Melaye, representing Kogi West Senatorial District, was
widely assumed to have been abducted after his associates claimed he ran
into unknown assailants as he traveled towards Kogi State.
In a lengthy discussion with Premium Times on Saturday afternoon, Mr Melaye narrated his own version of what he said unfolded along the Abuja-Lokoja Highway.
In a lengthy discussion with Premium Times on Saturday afternoon, Mr Melaye narrated his own version of what he said unfolded along the Abuja-Lokoja Highway.
In all, he confirmed he was not abducted, but that he was not the architect of his ordeal either.
He said he was travelling from Abuja to Lokoja for a court appearance on
Thursday morning and shortly after passing Gwagwalada, which is roughly
50 kilometres southwest of Abuja, a convoy of three vehicles drove
recklessly by his vehicle, intercepting him on the highway and forcing
him to stop.
He said the assailants tried to open fire to force themselves into the
vehicle, only to realise that it was a well-fortified vehicle with
bullet-proof. Without much time to waste at the scene, the attackers
devised an alternative.
“They started shouting that they wanted to burn me, they said ‘burn him,
burn him down,’ and crossed the road to look for tyres to set the
vehicle on fire,” Mr Melaye said.
As the attackers dispersed in different directions to scavenge for
tyres, Mr Melaye said he feared for his life and made instinctive
calculation to jump into the bush and bolt, rather than remained in the
car in defiance.
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“I jumped into the bush, and I started running,” Mr Melaye said. “They pursued me and I was able to outmanoeuvre them and climb a tree.
“I was on top of the three when I saw them run past looking frantically for me. When they didn’t find me, they also ran back.”
The senator said it was on the tree that he perched until his assailants left. While on the tree, he saw four of them passing, but remained hushed to avoid being detected.
He would go on to spend 11 hours trying to ensure that he was no longer at immediate risk from his assailants and navigating his way out of the overgrown weeds.
He also said he could not identify any of them, even if there is an identification parade by authorities, largely because he was more apprehensive of his survival than anything else at that traumatic moment.
Mr Melaye said he believed those who attempted to attack him were police-sponsored elements.
He said when he appeared in court on Wednesday for his attempted suicide trial at the Federal Capital Territory High Court in Apo, he saw some men trailing him after the proceeding.
He described the vehicles the men were driving as two Toyota Hilux trucks and a Toyota Sienna minivan.
“They were exactly the same vehicle that were used to attack me on Thursday morning,” he said.
He was driving to Lokoja in a vehicle not previously known with him, in a bid to disguise his move to those who were trailing him.
“I was going in a totally different vehicle, but I asked my brother to drive behind me in an SUV as a back-up,” he said. “But I was shocked to see the attackers run into the middle, creating wall between my brother and I before attacking me.”
He said his brother immediately performed a U-turn, a task that was by and large seamless since he was not the target of the assailants.
Mr Melaye said he is still being haunted by the event of four days ago, and called on Nigerians to prevail on federal authorities to restore his security.
He urged citizens to disregard the claims that he was somehow involved in planning the attack on him.
“It defies logical, the claim is illogical,” Mr Melaye said.
“To begin with, the federal government and the police in particular have combined five cases against me in court,” Mr Melaye said. “I have never declined to appear in court for trial in all the five separate cases.”
He said the claim that he was trying to avoid court appearance should immediately ring false to lucid minds, especially since he was in court just a day before.
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