WHAT NIGERIAN YOUTHS CAN LEARN FROM DINO MELAYE - BY VENERABLE JOE EZIAGHIGHALA

Senator Dino Melaye.

Dear Nigerian Youth,

Dino Melaye graduated from ABU in 1999 or 2000, whichever one Sowore tells you, it's true. Going by his year of graduation, Dino cannot be more than 47 years of age, at most.

If at 47 years a man is a Senator of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, a position hitherto meant for old recycled military men, and ex governors, then from my own estimation, that man should be respected.

Irrespective of political affiliation, Dino Melaye has been the most consistent whistle blower and anti corruption campaigner in the National Assembly since the advent of democracy.

In 2010, the 2nd Abuja Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport runway contract awarded at the sum of N64 billion to Julius Berger was cancelled after Dino Melaye revealed the fraud that characterized the contract.

In the same year, the same Melaye and other members of the House of Reps revealed to Nigerians how the then Speaker, Dimeji Bankole embezzled and misappropriated over $59 million between 2008 and 2009. He was beaten, his clothes torn and almost stripped on the floor of the House in the full glare of cameras. He was later suspended from the House. Some of us still remember what became of Dimeji Bankole. All these while, Dino was a member of the ruling party, PDP.

Now as a member of the APC, Senator Dino Melaye has been a better and most vibrant opposition to his own party and the Presidency, more than all the PDP Senators put together. It was through Dino Melaye that Nigerians got to know about the "grasscutters" awarding contracts to themselves and embezzling the money in the Presidency while Buhari is busy writing memos and defending the stench of corruption and the deaths it has brought to the IDP Camps.

In all these, I cannot recall any corruption charge or allegation against Dino Melaye that we know of since he should naturally be a target because of his activism and brand of politics. Don't get me wrong Dino Melaye is not a saint.

My fellow Nigerian Youth, instead for you to take a deep breath and find out how this young man has been able to survive the treacherous murky waters of Nigerian Politics, you join the bandwagon of detractors and waste your internet bundle on Dino's Certificates when you have a President who doesn't have the minimum requirement and yet leading the most populous black nation into peril.

Our Youths aspiring into politics should ask Dino Melaye how he was able to defeat the smartest Senator in the last Senate in the 2015 elections, talking about Senator Smart Adeyemi.

For me, I have since resolved never to be swayed by the partisan affiliation of political parties but I will rather look at the substance and character of our political gladiators.

Look beyond what they want you to see. They have stolen the future of the Nigerian Youth, now they are going for the future of our children.

Hate him or like him, Senator Dino Melaye is a bold Nigerian youth and we all have a lot to learn from him.