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Former member of the national assembly and Peoples Democratic Party (PP) chieftain, Senator Dino Melaye has revealed that he was scammed to support President Muhammadu Buhari in 2015.
Melaye, in an interview with Sunday Tribune said when he joined the All Progressives Congress (APC) with the others, they worked with what Buhari told them.
Speaking on if he was hoodwinked into supporting the president, Melaye said: “Not at all. I worked by conviction. Unfortunately, as an individual, I will speak for myself, I did not have the celestial powers to read the future. That is why people are born into Christian families and when they grow in that home, they discover that they are not convinced by that Christian faith, they convert to Islam. That is why a Muslim becomes a Christian; that is why people got employed and resigned because the condition of service is not palatable.”
He added: “When we joined and helped make President Buhari the president of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, we worked with what he said and what he told us. We believed at that time there was the sincerity of purpose and heart to rebuild Nigeria, revive our economy, create infrastructure, give mass mobilisation and eradicate poverty. But going on that journey, I discovered that I have been scammed. I was scammed to support President Buhari. So all I can tell you about the formation, the activities of APC, my involvement is that, once I was blind, now I can see.”
When told that some former chieftains of the PDP who defected to APC along with him are still in the ruling party, holding cabinet positions, he said: “That is why I said this is my personal view and my honest view that what we promised Nigerians during the campaign period is not what we saw after assuming power and I cannot be hypocritical like others have decided to be. Even when I was in APC, I was criticising government; when I was in PDP I was criticising government. It is about the people and sincerity of purpose of heart and commitment. Nigerian people are the most important.”