The senator has been involved in a war of words with the police over an alleged assassination attempt.
Senator Dino Melaye (Kogi West - APC) has posted a video of the bullet-ridden vehicle he alleged was shot at by officers of the Nigeria Police Force in an attempt to kill him.
The lawmaker had taken to his Twitter account (@dino_melaye) on Thursday, July 19, 2018, to raise an alarm over an assassination attempt on his life which he alleged was carried out by the police and military.
The Kogi State Police Command fired back later on Thursday to allege that the senator deliberately twisted the facts of the matter as it was his security aides who shot and injured a police sergeant first.
After issuing a statement to insist that his security aides never fired at the police, the senator took to his Instagram account (dinomelaye) on Saturday, July 21, to display the vehicle which he claimed was shot at by the police.
In a short video, quite a few bullet holes can be seen in the vehicle which was alleged to have been involved in the assassination attempt.
The senator captioned the post, "God I thank you. I will continue to trust only You my God and my refuge."
In the account of events as stated by the police, Melaye's convoy had been flagged down by officers of the Anti-Robbery/Kidnapping Patrol Team on a stop-and-search operation when they were fired upon after some of the vehicles in the convoy refused to stop.
The command's spokesperson, DSP William Aya, said officers only fired back in self-defence at the vehicles, which escaped from the scene, before they found out that it was the lawmaker's convoy.
However, according to Melaye, the police stopped the vehicle of the Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps (NSCDC) leading his convoy, arrested the officers in the vehicle and suddenly opened fire on his own vehicle without provocation.
He has revealed that he'll honour the invitation of the police as DSP Aya has directed him to report with the people in his convoy to the State Criminal Intelligence and Investigation Department, Lokoja, to assist in the investigation of the incident.
Melaye was on his planned 4-day 'Thank You' tour of Kogi West senatorial district when the incident happened. He was touring the district to inaugurate some of the 143 projects he had executed in the past three years.
On Wednesday, July 18, suspected political thugs destroyed two of the lawmaker's constituency projects in Lokoja metropolis only a few hours to their inauguration.
One of the projects was a block of four furnished classrooms at Government Girls Secondary School, Sarkin-Noma, which was torched in the early hours of Wednesday. The other project was UBE Junior Secondary School, Lokongoma, where iron windows, ceilings, white boards and electrical fittings, including ceiling fans in the block of four classrooms, were destroyed.
Later on Thursday, Melaye took to his Instagram account to post pictures of the letters he had written to security agencies to ask for protection for the tour. In the letter he wrote to the DSS, his lawyer, Ricky Tarfa (SAN), noted that there was a threat to his life and the ceremony itself. According to Melaye, both the Police, who acknowledged one of his letters, and the Department of State Services (DSS) failed to provide any cover for his tour.
Melaye's troubles with Police
This is not the first time the Senator is getting in trouble with the police over an alleged assassination attempt on his life.
Earlier this year, the office of the Attorney-General of the Federation filed a lawsuit against him for allegedly providing false information to the police about an assassination attempt on his life.
In the suit (CR/106/18) filed before the High Court of the Federal Capital Territory in Maitama on January 31, 2018, Melaye is accused of falsely incriminating Kogi's Governor Yahaya Bello's Chief of Staff, Edward Onoja David, as well as making false statement in regards to the attempted assassination.
In the first count, he is accused of falsely incriminating Edward David in his assassination attempt claim. Melaye is accused of deliberately giving false information to the police to frame David as the mastermind of the assassination attempt on his life at his hometown in Ayetoro-Gbede in Kogi state on April 17, 2017.
According to the charge, the police discovered the alleged falsehood in Melaye's claim while investigating his allegation.
In the second count, Melaye is accused of making false statement of facts in a phone conversation with Mohammed Abubakar, son of the late ex-governor of Kogi state, Abubakar Audu, with the intention of harming the reputation of David.
ALSO READ: Senator Melaye now has 3 criminal cases in 3 courts
The lawmaker has two other criminal cases in court as he's been charged with criminal conspiracy, unlawful possession of prohibited firearms, kidnapping, armed robbery, murder, political thuggery and other violent crimes in Kogi state before the Senior Magistrate Court 2 in Lokoja; as well as charges of criminal conspiracy, causing damage to government property, attempted suicide and escape from lawful custody before an Abuja Magistrate Court.