Tinubu and Melaye agree to end saga as Saraki steps in

ABUJA — STRONG indications emerged, yesterday, that reconciliation was under way between the Chairman, Senate Committee on Women Affairs, Senator Oluremi Tinubu (APC, Lagos Central) and her colleague, Senator Dino Melaye (APC, Kogi West) following the intervention of Senate President, Bukola Saraki.

 A source told Vanguard that Saraki met with both Tinubu and Melaye separately for a period of two hours each to nip in the bud the worsening crisis between the two senators, who are of the same political party, the ruling All Progressives Congress, APC. According to the source, Saraki first met with Senator Tinubu for two hours before meeting with Senator Melaye and the meetings took place in his new Senate wing office. Senator Oluremi Tinubu and Dino Melaye Senator Oluremi Tinubu and Dino Melaye The Senate President was said to have told them that they should stop the war of words and sheathe their swords for the unity of the Senate, just as he was said to have also urged them to look at their individual integrity as well as that of the Senate. Senator Saraki was said to have told them that as members of the same party, it would not augur well for the party, its leadership and members because people look up to them. At the end of the meeting, Vanguard gathered that both Senators Oluremi Tinubu and Dino Melaye agreed to put the problem behind them for national interest.

 Before Saraki’s intervention, the flaming squabble between the two senators got messier, yesterday, as more people got entangled, joined to fight proxy wars for the duo. Fighting for Tinubu A four-man delegation of the Lagos State House of Assembly stormed the national secretariat of the APC in Abuja in support of Tinubu and accused the Senate leadership of a conspiracy of silence. Armed with a petition they submitted to the National Chairman of the party, Chief John Odigie-Oyegun, the Lagos legislators called for immediate sanctions to be meted out on Sen. Melaye on account of his alleged derogatory statements against Mrs Tinubu. Led by the Deputy Speaker of the assembly, Wasiu Sanni, the lawmakers exonerated Mrs Tinubu of any wrongdoing, saying while she is highly-respectful, “she does not take sh.t”. Sanni, who addressed journalists after a closed-door meeting with Chief Odigie-Oyegun, urged Mrs Tinubu not to give in to the “uncouth” behaviour of Senator Melaye. Sanni, who came in company of Desmond Elliot and two others said: “We are here to pay solidarity visit to Senator Oluremi Tinubu, that we condemn the act, she should not be intimidated and she should not yield to verbal assault.

 “But let me say this, that Senator Oluremi Tinubu that we know, was the First Lady of Lagos State between 1999 and 2007. Some of us are like sons or brothers to her husband Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu and in Yoruba land, if you are a son to a woman’s husband you are supposed to be her son; she respects us and always addresses us as ‘Sirs’. So she is a woman that is courteous but she does not take nonsense, she does not take sh.t.” When asked to justify their protest and the allegation that a sum of N75 million was paid to stage the protest, the lawmaker said: “I am the Deputy Speaker. Hon. Yinka and Hon. Desmond Elliot are here; we are buoyant enough to sponsor ourselves and we all represent Lagos Central Senatorial District where Oluremi Tinubu is representing. It is a cause that we too are convinced that we must fight and thirdly, yesterday we went on recess. We are not resuming till August 29.” On the allegation that Senator Oluremi Tinubu was fond of causing trouble in the senate, the deputy speaker said: “For us, these are mere allegations unproven; this is something the senate could deal with in their way and manner. It is not out of place for the Committee on Rules and privileges to be told to investigate if they feel strongly about it. That is the issue for the Senate.” Members of Lagos State House of Assembly led by their speaker, Mudashiru Obasa, also stormed the National Assembly to protest the alleged verbal attack on Tinubu by Melaye. They were accompanied by some stalwarts of APC from Lagos State, including a former Senator, Munirudeen Muse. Speaking at the meeting, Muse, who condemned Melaye’s utterances, however, encouraged Tinubu not to be discouraged in her pursuit of “qualitative legislation for the development of the country.” In her response, Tinubu vowed to sustain the tempo of criticism of events and activities in the Senate which she feels are not healthy for the country.

 Also, a group of women stormed the National Assembly, yesterday, to protest Senator Melaye’s alleged misconduct. The women said they were carrying out the action to denounce the utterances of Senator Melaye against Senator Oluremi Tinubu. Melaye and Tinubu engaged in a verbal war during a closed door session penultimate Tuesday. It was alleged that Melaye threatened to beat up Senator Tinubu at the closed session. The protesters, who wore T-shirts with inscription that read: “No to impunity for gender based violence”, were heard chanting, “Stop violence against women.” They carried placards that read: “Support Gender Equality Opportunity Bill”, “A Senator is a Senator, women are not threat objects”, Senate Ieadership’s silence in the face of violence against women is conspiracy”, “Say no to impunity” among others. Addressing journalists, Woman Leader of the South-West APC, Mrs. Kemi Nelson, urged the Senate to take a disciplinary action against Melaye. Nelson, who denied allegations that they were given N75 million for the protest, said: “This is impunity and it has to be stopped, we must be accorded our right.” In like manner, students, on the banner of National Union of Lagos State Students, NULASS, yesterday, gave Senator Dino Melaye an August 1, 2016, ultimatum to apologise to Senator Oluremi Tinubu, or be declared a persona-non-grata in Lagos.

 The students, in a press statement signed by their National President, Daniju Sultan, titled, An affront, not only to Bourdillion,” condemned Senator Melaye for his action on the floor of the red chamber; and urged him to render an unreserved apology to Tinubu. “We, hereby, demand for a formal apology from Senator Dino Malaye to Senator Oluremi Tinubu, Lagos Central Senatorial District, and the entire people of Lagos State for such outrageous and ridiculous statement and act on or before 1st of August 2016 or we declare him persona non grata in Lagos State.” Kogi women back Melaye However, a group, under the aegis of Kogi women, in Lokoja, the Kogi State capital, berated Senator Oluremi Tinubu over her alleged attack on Melaye. The Kogi women demanded an apology from Senator Oluremi Tinubu and her husband, Bola Tinubu. Spokesperson of the group, Funmilayo Olumodeji, told newsmen at a media briefing in Lokoja that as, women, they were disappointed in Mrs Tinubu’s pride and arrogance. Olumodeji, who called on the national leader of APC, Senator Bola Tinubu, to caution his wife against the use of vulgar statements on her colleagues, alleged that the same senator was reported to have embarrassed the Senate President, Deputy Senate President, among others, on several occasions without being cautioned. She said: “The same woman also slapped Senator Rafiu Ibrahim from Kwara State, nobody demanded any apology or response from her. The same woman deliberately sat on the Deputy Senate President’s seat to unnecessarily cause uproar and nobody demanded an apology from her. “A woman was killed in Kano recently and she could not raise her voice in the red chamber in defence of womanhood. Just last week, a woman preacher was killed and we did not hear her voice” She also condemned the action of women who protested on behalf of Remi Tinubu, alleging that they were sponsored. She said contrary to the earlier stand of commentators and women groups on the issue, it is Senator Tinubu that ought to apologise to Dino Melaye.

 “We, therefore, demand that Senator Remi Tinubu should, as a woman, mother and wife, be courteous enough to apologise to Senator Dino Melaye.” Steer clear of matter, Commonwealth party advises IG Meanwhile, the Commonwealth Liberation Party, TCLP, an organization which sole aim is to oversee government affairs in all 54 Commonwealth countries, has asked the Acting Inspector General of Police, Ibrahim Idris, not to intervene in the matter involving senators Remi Tinubu and Dino Melaye, following the former’s request to that effect. Instead, the United Kingdom-based organization advised that the matter which it noted, happened in Senate executive session, be left for the legislature to handle, in line with its mechanism of handling such issues. Chairman of TCLP, Prof. Alexia Thomas, who is also a chieftain of the Commonwealth Treaty Alliance Commission, tasked the Police boss to ensure that police officers were not deployed to the Senate based on Mrs Tinubu’s complaint to the police, saying any such act would violate the principle of independence of the legislature. In a statement, released in Abuja, Prof. Thomas stressed: ‘“The Inspector General is advised that no police officers are allowed into the Senate because Remi Tinubu undermined the powers of the House and took matters to the police without first and foremost complaining to the Senate.”
Source: Vanguard

ABUJA — STRONG indications emerged, yesterday, that reconciliation was under way between the Chairman, Senate Committee on Women Affairs, Senator Oluremi Tinubu (APC, Lagos Central) and her colleague, Senator Dino Melaye (APC, Kogi West) following the intervention of Senate President, Bukola Saraki. A source told Vanguard that Saraki met with both Tinubu and Melaye separately for a period of two hours each to nip in the bud the worsening crisis between the two senators, who are of the same political party, the ruling All Progressives Congress, APC. According to the source, Saraki first met with Senator Tinubu for two hours before meeting with Senator Melaye and the meetings took place in his new Senate wing office. Senator Oluremi Tinubu and Dino Melaye Senator Oluremi Tinubu and Dino Melaye The Senate President was said to have told them that they should stop the war of words and sheathe their swords for the unity of the Senate, just as he was said to have also urged them to look at their individual integrity as well as that of the Senate. Senator Saraki was said to have told them that as members of the same party, it would not augur well for the party, its leadership and members because people look up to them. At the end of the meeting, Vanguard gathered that both Senators Oluremi Tinubu and Dino Melaye agreed to put the problem behind them for national interest. Before Saraki’s intervention, the flaming squabble between the two senators got messier, yesterday, as more people got entangled, joined to fight proxy wars for the duo. Fighting for Tinubu A four-man delegation of the Lagos State House of Assembly stormed the national secretariat of the APC in Abuja in support of Tinubu and accused the Senate leadership of a conspiracy of silence. Armed with a petition they submitted to the National Chairman of the party, Chief John Odigie-Oyegun, the Lagos legislators called for immediate sanctions to be meted out on Sen. Melaye on account of his alleged derogatory statements against Mrs Tinubu. Led by the Deputy Speaker of the assembly, Wasiu Sanni, the lawmakers exonerated Mrs Tinubu of any wrongdoing, saying while she is highly-respectful, “she does not take sh.t”. Sanni, who addressed journalists after a closed-door meeting with Chief Odigie-Oyegun, urged Mrs Tinubu not to give in to the “uncouth” behaviour of Senator Melaye. Sanni, who came in company of Desmond Elliot and two others said: “We are here to pay solidarity visit to Senator Oluremi Tinubu, that we condemn the act, she should not be intimidated and she should not yield to verbal assault. “But let me say this, that Senator Oluremi Tinubu that we know, was the First Lady of Lagos State between 1999 and 2007. Some of us are like sons or brothers to her husband Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu and in Yoruba land, if you are a son to a woman’s husband you are supposed to be her son; she respects us and always addresses us as ‘Sirs’. So she is a woman that is courteous but she does not take nonsense, she does not take sh.t.” When asked to justify their protest and the allegation that a sum of N75 million was paid to stage the protest, the lawmaker said: “I am the Deputy Speaker. Hon. Yinka and Hon. Desmond Elliot are here; we are buoyant enough to sponsor ourselves and we all represent Lagos Central Senatorial District where Oluremi Tinubu is representing. It is a cause that we too are convinced that we must fight and thirdly, yesterday we went on recess. We are not resuming till August 29.” On the allegation that Senator Oluremi Tinubu was fond of causing trouble in the senate, the deputy speaker said: “For us, these are mere allegations unproven; this is something the senate could deal with in their way and manner. It is not out of place for the Committee on Rules and privileges to be told to investigate if they feel strongly about it. That is the issue for the Senate.” Members of Lagos State House of Assembly led by their speaker, Mudashiru Obasa, also stormed the National Assembly to protest the alleged verbal attack on Tinubu by Melaye. They were accompanied by some stalwarts of APC from Lagos State, including a former Senator, Munirudeen Muse. Speaking at the meeting, Muse, who condemned Melaye’s utterances, however, encouraged Tinubu not to be discouraged in her pursuit of “qualitative legislation for the development of the country.” In her response, Tinubu vowed to sustain the tempo of criticism of events and activities in the Senate which she feels are not healthy for the country. Also, a group of women stormed the National Assembly, yesterday, to protest Senator Melaye’s alleged misconduct. The women said they were carrying out the action to denounce the utterances of Senator Melaye against Senator Oluremi Tinubu. Melaye and Tinubu engaged in a verbal war during a closed door session penultimate Tuesday. It was alleged that Melaye threatened to beat up Senator Tinubu at the closed session. The protesters, who wore T-shirts with inscription that read: “No to impunity for gender based violence”, were heard chanting, “Stop violence against women.” They carried placards that read: “Support Gender Equality Opportunity Bill”, “A Senator is a Senator, women are not threat objects”, Senate Ieadership’s silence in the face of violence against women is conspiracy”, “Say no to impunity” among others. Addressing journalists, Woman Leader of the South-West APC, Mrs. Kemi Nelson, urged the Senate to take a disciplinary action against Melaye. Nelson, who denied allegations that they were given N75 million for the protest, said: “This is impunity and it has to be stopped, we must be accorded our right.” In like manner, students, on the banner of National Union of Lagos State Students, NULASS, yesterday, gave Senator Dino Melaye an August 1, 2016, ultimatum to apologise to Senator Oluremi Tinubu, or be declared a persona-non-grata in Lagos. The students, in a press statement signed by their National President, Daniju Sultan, titled, An affront, not only to Bourdillion,” condemned Senator Melaye for his action on the floor of the red chamber; and urged him to render an unreserved apology to Tinubu. “We, hereby, demand for a formal apology from Senator Dino Malaye to Senator Oluremi Tinubu, Lagos Central Senatorial District, and the entire people of Lagos State for such outrageous and ridiculous statement and act on or before 1st of August 2016 or we declare him persona non grata in Lagos State.” Kogi women back Melaye However, a group, under the aegis of Kogi women, in Lokoja, the Kogi State capital, berated Senator Oluremi Tinubu over her alleged attack on Melaye. The Kogi women demanded an apology from Senator Oluremi Tinubu and her husband, Bola Tinubu. Spokesperson of the group, Funmilayo Olumodeji, told newsmen at a media briefing in Lokoja that as, women, they were disappointed in Mrs Tinubu’s pride and arrogance. Olumodeji, who called on the national leader of APC, Senator Bola Tinubu, to caution his wife against the use of vulgar statements on her colleagues, alleged that the same senator was reported to have embarrassed the Senate President, Deputy Senate President, among others, on several occasions without being cautioned. She said: “The same woman also slapped Senator Rafiu Ibrahim from Kwara State, nobody demanded any apology or response from her. The same woman deliberately sat on the Deputy Senate President’s seat to unnecessarily cause uproar and nobody demanded an apology from her. “A woman was killed in Kano recently and she could not raise her voice in the red chamber in defence of womanhood. Just last week, a woman preacher was killed and we did not hear her voice” She also condemned the action of women who protested on behalf of Remi Tinubu, alleging that they were sponsored. She said contrary to the earlier stand of commentators and women groups on the issue, it is Senator Tinubu that ought to apologise to Dino Melaye. “We, therefore, demand that Senator Remi Tinubu should, as a woman, mother and wife, be courteous enough to apologise to Senator Dino Melaye.” Steer clear of matter, Commonwealth party advises IG Meanwhile, the Commonwealth Liberation Party, TCLP, an organization which sole aim is to oversee government affairs in all 54 Commonwealth countries, has asked the Acting Inspector General of Police, Ibrahim Idris, not to intervene in the matter involving senators Remi Tinubu and Dino Melaye, following the former’s request to that effect. Instead, the United Kingdom-based organization advised that the matter which it noted, happened in Senate executive session, be left for the legislature to handle, in line with its mechanism of handling such issues. Chairman of TCLP, Prof. Alexia Thomas, who is also a chieftain of the Commonwealth Treaty Alliance Commission, tasked the Police boss to ensure that police officers were not deployed to the Senate based on Mrs Tinubu’s complaint to the police, saying any such act would violate the principle of independence of the legislature. In a statement, released in Abuja, Prof. Thomas stressed: ‘“The Inspector General is advised that no police officers are allowed into the Senate because Remi Tinubu undermined the powers of the House and took matters to the police without first and foremost complaining to the Senate.”

Read more at: http://www.vanguardngr.com/2016/07/saraki-wades-into-tinubu-melaye-squabble/