Certificate saga: Dino Melaye's school mate finally revealed the truth
A schoolmate of the beleaguered Senator Dino Melaye, Abdussobur
Salaam, at the Ahmadu Bello University (ABU), Abdussobur Salaam, has described
the battle the senator is fighting as payback for certain evils committed in
the past.
Salaam,‎ who is currently working at the Federal University
of Agriculture, Abeokuta (FUNAAB), spoke about the controversy surrounding the
certificate controversy in which the senator is presently entangled.

According to Premium Times, Salaam spoke on a Penpushing
social media platform and said he studied political science at ABU at the same period
Melaye was a student in the Department of Geography at the university.

“Permit me to make an
intervention on the issue of Dino and ABU, having been admitted and ‘graduated’
from ABU same year as Dino. I use the word ‘graduated’, very guardedly and with
caution.

“Permit me to say that
as at the time we were admitted, Geography Department was under the Faculty of
Arts and Social Sciences (FASS). In our 200 level, the Faculty was split and
Geography Department had issues of where to fit in. It was initially placed
under Faculty of Arts and later shifted to Faculty of Sciences where it is
presently domiciled. The narrative on his certificate could be correct.

“Dino and I are
supposed to be ‘friends’ but differences never permitted while we were in
school. Till date, we communicate once in a while, but I dare say he is the
architect of his problems.

“I have spent all
yesterday responding to enquiries on different platforms about Dino’s status as
a graduate. My take?

“We were admitted the
same year, initially into the same faculty of FASS, and given that our courses
were four years, we ought to have graduated same year.

“However, recalling
how studentship in ABU was that period, you could never be too sure of the
academic status of any ‘student’.

“What do I mean? We
had ‘students’ who were always around, attended lectures, participated in all
student activities, were allocated hostel space, were always holding files and
feigning academic seriousness, only for an issue to come up and you would find
out that despite your having known them for years, they were never students but
just lived pseudo student lives!”
Salaam, who was an ex-Chairman of the Senior Staff
Association of Nigerian Universities at FUNAAB, said such ways of the fake
students might make it hard for any of their contemporaries to believe that
they were not authentic students.

“If they were never
discovered, 20 years time, if a controversy arose as to their status, one would
swear confidently that the person graduated!” ‎, he stated.

“While this is not
exactly the same with Dino, you cannot be too sure until facts are unearthed.

“I know for a fact
that we were admitted together. I am aware that he was very active in student
political circles, though he has attempted to insinuate that he was SUG
president to shore up his political profile. Unfortunately, during our time,
under the reign of Uncle K, (General Kontagora as Sole Administrator) the
student Union was proscribed, so that claim cannot stick! He lied on that!

“As President of
Geography students, I am aware that he was impeached. I also know that he had
fraud related issues with the Kogi State Students Association and Segun Halilu
personally had lamented to me about this, then.
“I remember that he
wanted to join the OAU students club then, and we blocked his membership,
knowing his tendencies to cause confusion and take over the structure of the
club for personal ends.”

“On his status as a
graduate, only the records can tell. For all you know, he may have had a few
unresolved carry-overs. Knowing Dino, he may have bluffed, paid or manipulated
the system to ensure those records are obliterated.

“If not, recall that
given the circumstances of our year set, many concessions/ waivers were given
to ensure that we graduated, having spent almost double the statutory length of
years we should spend. Dino may just have been such a beneficiary of waivers.
It is however not our place to tell, but the truth will unfold itself”, Mr.
Salaam stressed.

“As a political
scientist, what I see is a class fragmentation struggle. An in-house struggle
within the elite class. Saraki and Dino are the subjects of attack today for
takeover of the National Assembly. They may get over it or it may consume them.

“However, I do not
have my sympathy for him (Mr. Melaye) because he is also a master in the art of
subterfuge, blackmail and crude propaganda. Today, he is a victim of the same
method he has adopted over the years and I am happy to see the tables turn!

“Unfortunately, issues
like this have led to the results they were meant to produce – public hysteria!
Everyone is now caught up in debates about the Dino certificate scandal, or is
it Dinogate?

“Everyone includes me!
Last two weeks, it was Apostle Suleiman. This week, it is Dino. Who knows who
next week will throw up? While we dwell on personalities, and are distracted by
their shenanigans, we continue to remain victims of the plots and scheming.

“At the end of the
day, things like this die off, others take their place in an endless cycle of
politics of personality. While the elite class continues to regale us with
entertainment, the real problems of underdevelopment, poverty, poor
infrastructure, bad governance, corruption, and other malaise 
remain! God help
Nigeria!”
he concluded.
Efforts to get through to Senator Melaye on Salaam’s fresh
claims of the former’s roles while in school including his purported
impeachment as a president of geography students were futile. The senator did
not pick or return calls to his phone on Sunday.

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