On Monday the 15th of April, news broke on social media that former federal lawmaker turned social activist, Otunba Dino Melaye survived an attempt on his life by suspected gunmen in the Central Business District area of Abuja, the nation’s capital.
According to various sources including but not restricted to former FCT Minister and opposition politician, Mallam Nasir el-Rufai who spoke via his Twitter account, Melaye was driving a cream white Bentley in the early evening through the CBD when he was accosted by masked men driving a black Volkswagen Golf near the NNPC bypass and fired somewhere from six to eight bullets at his vehicle.
He survived the attempt on his life partly because his car was bullet proof (or was it?) and partly because it was a miracle. A photograph of a smashed passenger window has made the rounds online as evidence of the brazen gun attack.
Almost immediately after the story broke, doubts and suspicion was placed as to the veracity of Melaye’s claims and some may say justifiably so. The head of the Anti-Corruption Network NGO has garnered a reputation for making sweeping claims, hasty generalisations and hurling personal invectives at public figures including the President, Goodluck Jonathan and the ruling party, the PDP.
READ: Eromo Egbejule: The Delusions Of Dino And Other Stories
READ: ‘Melaye’, ‘NTA’, ‘Ribadu’: Top 10 People In Politics To ABSOLUTELY Ignore In 2013
In order to clear the air about the whole incident, The Scoop paid a visit to the site of the purported attack and well, some things don’t just add up.
The Location:
The attack was said to have taken place close to the NNPC Towers bypass along Herbert Macaulay Way. This area is known as the Central Business District and is heavily populated with the corporate headquarters of many organisations. Within the vicinity of the site, there are the corporate headquarters of the Bank of Industry, the national headquarters of Unity Bank, the corporate headquarters of Total Nigeria, the zonal headquarters of the First City Monument Bank as well as branches of Ecobank, Zenith and Skye banks. There are two filling stations on the west side of the street, belonging to Conoil and Total. Also, there are three plaza complexes including Renaissance Plaza, home to about fifteen corporate enterprises and a ten storey corporate plaza full of malls and other businesses. The Institute of Human Virology and the old Nigerian Stock Exchange, Abuja trading floor buildings are also in the vicinity. Further down Herbert Macaulay Way is Ceddi Plaza – one of the most glamorous mall complexes in the country. There are five road exits through the whole area.
Another point to note is that the area is heavily militarized. The side of the road adjoining the NNPC Towers itself is permanently cordoned off except to allow access to staff of the company and military personnel. All normal traffic uses the other side of the road.
There are two military tanks – yes, tanks – one in front of the NNPC and another beside the FCMB premises when you are exiting the area. There are usually manned by 3-4 persons. There are an additional two checkpoints – one manned by the police and another by the military at either end of the Wuse/Ceddi Plaza approach to the district.
This is a part of Abuja that is perpetually full of human activity and so if anything happened here, there must be a plethora of witnesses. This brings us to the second point.
The Human Factor
When The Scoop paid a visit to the area, everywhere was uncharacteristically clean. There was no sign of broken glass, empty bullet casings and shrapnel on the road. The street wasn’t even cordoned off by police or military personnel as a bomb or attack site normally would. We interviewed two street sweepers who told us that they did not sweep any shard of glass or find anything unusual.
Several private security personnel scattered around the area told The Scoop that none of their colleagues who were on the night shift reported anything interesting. Most of them even asked The Scoop for details about the attack!
At the Total filling station, a sales attendant told us that the station is open 24 hours, every day and nothing happened in the area the previous night. It is instructive to note that the station is directly opposite the NNPC premises and since the NNPC side of the road is closed, the attack would have taken place in front of the station. We got the same information from the Conoil station.
Melaye’s Story
The final piece of the puzzle comes from Mr. Melaye himself. His story is riddled with inconsistencies hard to ignore and his actions leave a lot open to interpretation.
The former FCT Minister, Nasir el-Rufai and a close associate of Mr Melaye’s Ayobami Oyalowo both tweeted that Bentley was bullet proof but a report by the Daily Post suggest that in fact, it wasn’t. Quoting the Director of Planning and Strategy for Melaye’s Anti-Corruption Network, he said,
“It’s just a miracle that he is alive. He called me about an hour ago and told me what happened.
“They were about four or five of them and they shot at his Bentley twice, but the bullets didn’t penetrate. It is a miracle, because they are not bullet-proof. They even tried to jack him down from the car.”
It is quite unclear how many bullets were fired at the car and how multiple bullets fired at a non-bullet proofed car did not penetrate the windows, the chasis or any part of the car.
Furthermore, the photograph which was circulated as showing the point of impact on the Bentley vehicle seems to be consistent with a smashed window as against a bullet ridden window. We have uploaded pictures of the bullet ridden Mercedes Benz car that Murtala Mohammed rode in when he was assassinated on February 13, 1976..
QUESTIONS:
The Director of Planning and Strategy for Melaye’s Anti-Corruption Network also stated that Mr. Melaye’s assailants attempted to jack him down form the vehicle. Now some things are not clear at this point
– Was Mr Melaye about to enter the car when he was attacked or was he actually driving the car when he was fired upon?
– If he was driving, how do you hijack a moving car?
– If he was not driving, why wasn’t he just shot at directly as against spraying the car with bullets?
– Did they attempt to jack him with the door firmly locked or open? Or was it open, but somehow, they did not succeed? If the door was locked, why didn’t they force it open? If it was open, why didn’t they get their man?
Why did the assailants give up so easily? Was it because of the presence of security operatives? Or did some Good Samaritan come to Mr Melaye’s aid? Or did all this even happen at all?
Mr Melaye went-a-tweeting the following day, Tuesday the 16th of April and his tweets did not portray a man who has just been through an assassination attempt. There was no sign of psychological trauma, or relief or genuine gratitude, only a bunch of tweets that were boastful, defiant and sharply critical of everyone who doubted his version of events.
In contrast, when Melaye’s friend, Mallam Nasir el-Rufai was in real fear for his life and he had to as he put it, ‘go on exile’ to the UAE and then the United States in 2009, there was a real sense of the trepidation and uncertainty that accompanies a life threatening situation from his tweets and public utterances.
Conclusively, it can be seen that there are too many gaps, omissions, assumptions, generalisations and inconsistencies with the events surrounding the attack on Dino Melaye’s car that Monday evening.
Perhaps Mr. Melaye would like to clarify in the public interest what really happened that night. Or if it ever happened at all.
