Three days after he was admitted at the hospital after reportedly jumping from a moving police vehicle, Dino Melaye has remained at the intensive care unit (ICU) at the National Hospital, Abuja, PREMIUM TIMES has learnt.
This implies that Mr Melaye, representing Kogi West Senatorial District, could still be in critical condition even though he had spent enough time at the hospital for him to be stabilised and moved out of the ICU.
PREMIUM TIMES visited the hospital Friday evening and gathered that he was still being treated at the ICU. The huge presence of the police made it extremely difficult to have access to the senator.
Hospital officials also declined comments when approached about Mr Melaye’s condition during the visit.
Mr Melaye, 44, was moved to the hospital by the police on Tuesday evening, hours after he escaped from a police team to avoid being taken to Lokoja, the Kogi State capital.
The police are charging Mr Melaye for a slew of criminal offences which ranged from armed robbery to murder. Mr Melaye denied the allegations, saying they were politically-motivated.
His media aide, Gideon Ayodele, decried his latest ordeal to PREMIUM TIMES Friday morning, saying everything was orchestrated to keep the senator preoccupied amidst ongoing efforts to recall him.
“They planned everything,” Mr Ayodele said. “It was a plot to get him distracted and make it difficult for him to rally his base or verify signatures.”
The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) plans to start verification of signatures on Saturday, with results expected to be in by Sunday.
The results were first collected last June, and Mr Melaye had initiated several legal steps to truncate the process. The senator was throwing the legal obstacles despite frequently reasserting his popularity amongst constituents.
Mr Ayodele said Mr Melaye being inactive could have an adverse effect on the outcome of the signature verification. But INEC said only observers would be allowed near the 552 units that the exercise would take place across the senatorial district.
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