"I am a Senator of the Federal Republic of Nigeria and if there is any invitation here in Abuja, I am going to honour it, but not Kogi. I have been arraigned seven times in different courts with the Nigerian Police. This will be number eight. I am not afraid of being arraigned or tried in court, because I know that my hands are clean. I have not committed any atrocity or offence. I know that the God that I serve will deliver me," Melaye said.
Dino Melaye, the senator representing Kogi West District in the National Assembly, has vowed not be silent in speaking the truth, nor will he be coerced into supporting any presidential candidate aside that of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP).
He made this known on Friday in Abuja, while commenting on the siege laid to his house by the Nigerian Police in Abuja.
Speaking via telephone from an undisclosed location, he maintained that he would not compromise on speaking the truth. He said he was out of Abuja and claimed that the invasion of his house was a deliberate attempt to "kill him".
He also stated that the Police had refused to release his international passport to him, despite a court order, just as he accused the Nigerian Police of exposing him to danger by withdrawing his security detail since April.
His words: "My international passports are with the Police and I have a court order that it should be released to me.
"The IGP has refused to honour the court order. As I speak to you, my security detail have been withdrawn since April and it is a deliberate attempt to expose me so that I can be killed and destroyed. The Senate, in their resolution, asked the Police to restore my security detail, but up till today, they refused.
"I am a Senator of the Federal Republic of Nigeria and if there is any invitation here in Abuja, I am going to honour it, but not Kogi. I have been arraigned seven times in different courts with the Nigerian Police. This will be Number eight. I am not afraid of being arraigned or tried in court, because I know that my hands are clean. I have not committed any atrocity or offence. I know that the God that I serve will deliver me."
He stated that there are surveillance cameras in his compound, and promised to honour the Police invitation whenever he is back in Abuja.
At the time of this report, the stand-off was still on and the gun-totting officers were still laying siege to the house.