Governor Adams Aliyu Oshiomhole of Edo state has asked Senator Dino Melaye to apologise to him for making disparaging remarks on his marriage to a foreigner, Lara Fortes, on the floor of the Senate.
Melaye had on Wednesday while while making contributions on the floor of the Senate stressed the need for Nigerians to patronise made-in-Nigeria products including.
He said: “I want to celebrate the made-in-Nigeria senator for bringing this motion. In considering the made-in-Nigeria goods, we must look at enabling factors that will necessitate the made in Nigeria goods. It’s beyond having one made-in-Nigeria attire and you have over 70 Tom Fords and Louis Vuittons in your wardrobe.
“We must reduce the allocation for made-in-Nigeria goods and services to the basics. What are those factors militating against the production of these goods? We must tackle them. We must also begin to look at our legislation then we will begin to talk about made-in-Nigeria goods.
“We will also move in order to encourage the made-in-Nigeria products in Nigeria, begin to talk about made-in-Nigeria women. Apologies to my uncle, the governor of Edo state, we must, as a people, stop paying dowry in dollars and pounds. It is time for my colleagues here to become born again.”
Responding to the Senator’s remarks, Oshiomhole said in a statement by his Chief Press Secretary, Mr Peter Okhiria, said Melaye only displayed how hollow he is by delving into a matter as private as his marriage.
The statement reads in part: “Our attention has been drawn to the unprovoked verbal assault launched by one Senator Dino Melaye on the Governor of Edo State, Comrade Adams Oshiomhole, while making a contribution on the floor of the Senate on the need to patronize made-in-Nigeria goods.
“As a “nephew” of the Governor and members of the same party, we expected Senator Melaye to tender an unreserved public apology to the Comrade Governor, to no avail. It is an open secret that Senator Melaye cannot maintain a decent matrimonial home hence he could descend to this pedestrian level of using the hallowed chambers to “cargorise” women as if they were pieces of items for purchase.
“Any responsible individual that is truly worth to be called a Senator, a position that convokes respect, decorum and decent public conduct, should know the limits of his verbal diarrhea.
“The liberty of free speech guaranteed in the hallowed chambers does not impose lunacy on anyone to disparage other Nigerians, let alone pry into their matrimony in a very derisive manner. We had intended to ignore this uncomplimentary comment as one of the several empty displays of the Senator, but the fact that it tends to reduce women to pieces of tissue calls for this response.
“As we probed into Dino Melaye’s humanity, we were reminded that he is a man known for his vainglorious rodomontade and the childish display of his ostentatious lifestyle complements his love for foreign items. Many of such euro-centric mentality he has persistently displayed on social media, to underscore his materialistic eccentricity, hence his dialectical opposition to made-in-Nigeria goods.
“But an attempt at making women wear the garb of goods to be picked off the shelves was to take the issue to a ridiculous and irresponsible level. By delving into the private affair and marriage of the Comrade Governor, Senator Melaye has exposed himself as a simpleton and a court jester whose words and tactlessness cannot be taken seriously by matured people. “We advise that Melaye should mend his ways with his ex-wife and concubines before coming to the village square to display his crass ignorance and emptiness to the Nigerian people. If he has anything to offer, Dino Melaye should concentrate on making good laws for the people of Nigeria rather than descend to a ridiculous level, thus displaying to the whole world his unworthiness to sit in the hallowed chambers of the Nigerian Senate.”
