Saraki Writes Foreword for Dino Melaye’s New Book

Anayo Okolie
The Senate President, Bukola Saraki, has shown full solidarity for the fight against corruption in the country as he endorsed a foreword for a new book titled: ‘Antidotes for Corruption: The Nigeria Story’ written by Senator Dino Melaye. The book which is memoirs of Senator Dino Melaye, traces the senator’s roots, from a humble beginning, to the position he presently occupies as a Senator of the Federal Republic of Nigeria’s 8th Assembly, and the challenge of the virus known as corruption, and the ways that it has eaten deep into the system and body polity of the nation.

In his forward for the book, Saraki said: “Evidence abound that no country can make progress where corruption thrives. In other words, while several factors may have conspired in holding Nigeria back from attaining its full potential as the greatest black nation on earth, corruption, defined as the appropriation of public resources to create private values, would definitely rank ahead of the other factors.

“It therefore stands to reason and common sense that Nigeria would not experience real progress unless we take the bold steps in arresting the scourge of corruption from our public, and even private, spaces. It is significant to note that increased citizens’ participation in governance, which democracy had made possible, has also deepened and broadened the voice of our people in bringing the issue of corruption to the centre of our country’s political agenda.”

While the Senate President notes in his foreword the efforts made to set up corruption fighting agencies such as the Independent Corrupt Practices Commission, ICPC, the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC, and a host of other specialised agencies within our various internal security agencies, he believes that more can still be done. He therefore believes that Dino has been courageous to do this head-on.

“Dino is as fearless as he is brutally honest. He is the kind of man who would not call a spade by any other name because he wants to be in anybody’s good books. I also enjoyed reading the first part of the book, which is a brief biography or sorts. I came away from that with even greater understanding of Dino’s personality and the kind of background that has shaped the boy into the man that we all know today. Dino’s story is such a remarkable testimony to courage and single-minded determination.

“His is a classic grass to grace story which would undoubtedly inspire generations of young people for years to come. Even though I have been in government since 1999, and been in active politics since 2003, I must admit that I still learn so much about the events that happened within the period covered by this book. I am most delighted to have the honour of writing the foreword to this book, ‘Antidotes For Corruption: The Nigeria Story’, which I wholly recommend to everyone interested in understanding how corruption has defined our country’s politics over the years.”