{"id":199125,"date":"2026-04-19T20:53:28","date_gmt":"2026-04-19T19:53:28","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/uncategorized\/i-can-defeat-tinubu-in-free-fair-election-dino-melaye"},"modified":"2026-04-19T22:14:39","modified_gmt":"2026-04-19T21:14:39","slug":"i-can-defeat-tinubu-in-free-fair-election-dino-melaye","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/policy\/i-can-defeat-tinubu-in-free-fair-election-dino-melaye","title":{"rendered":"I can defeat Tinubu in free, fair election \u2013 Dino Melaye"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><span style=\"color: #ff6600\"><strong>Africa-Press &#8211; Nigeria. <\/strong><\/span>Former Kogi lawmaker, Senator Dino Melaye, has declared that he would defeat President Bola Tinubu in a credible election, while stressing that his main focus is backing a united opposition candidate.<\/p>\n<p>Melaye made the remarks during an interview on Mic On Podcast hosted by Seun Okinbaloye, where he criticised the current administration and expressed confidence in alternative candidates.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cMy brother, anybody among those interested in presidency in ADC would do one million times better than Tinubu. They can never be a worse president than Tinubu,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n<p>Speaking on his own chances, the former senator insisted he could unseat the President under a transparent process.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cMe, Dino Melaye. Let\u2019s go on a free and fair election,\u201d he stated.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI will beat him flat in the Federal Republic of Nigeria.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Despite his confidence, Melaye said his immediate priority is not necessarily personal ambition but ensuring a united front against the current government.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cMy own for now is that we must send Tinubu away. Whoever emerges from consensus or from a primary, I will support,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n<p>He also alleged that the President may not be willing to allow a credible electoral process.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cLet him allow a free and fair contest. And if he doesn\u2019t allow it, we will make him conduct our election. Because he doesn\u2019t want election. He wants to be Kabiyesi. He wants to be Igwe,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n<p>On coalition talks, Melaye dismissed speculation about joint tickets, saying the priority is national interest.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI am not interested in any joint ticket or non-joint ticket, we are only interested in rescuing this country,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n<p>The former lawmaker also raised concerns about governance, alleging undue influence by non-elected individuals, particularly the President\u2019s son, Seyi Tinubu.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cMy son will not interfere with governance. My son will not summon DGs of parastatals and agencies of government and ministers,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n<p>He further criticised what he described as the growing visibility of Seyi Tinubu in public affairs, referencing comments by Nobel laureate Wole Soyinka.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cEven our respected Wole Soyinka complained about him. You have seen the City Boy Movement and what they are doing,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n<p>Melaye maintained that opposition figures are already strategising ahead of future elections, stressing that unity will be key to achieving their goal.<\/p>\n<p><strong>For More News And Analysis About <span style=\"color: #ff6600\">Nigeria<\/span> Follow <span style=\"color: #ff6600\">Africa-Press<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Africa-Press &#8211; Nigeria. Former Kogi lawmaker, Senator Dino Melaye, has declared that he would defeat President Bola Tinubu in a credible election, while stressing that his main focus is backing a united opposition candidate. Melaye made the remarks during an interview on Mic On Podcast hosted by Seun Okinbaloye, where he criticised the current administration [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":84,"featured_media":199124,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[24,14],"tags":[254],"class_list":["post-199125","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-all-news","category-policy","tag-nigeria"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO Premium plugin v26.1 (Yoast SEO v27.0) - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-premium-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>I can defeat Tinubu in free, fair election \u2013 Dino Melaye - Nigeria<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Former Kogi lawmaker, Senator Dino Melaye, has declared that he would defeat President Bola Tinubu in a credible electio ...\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/policy\/i-can-defeat-tinubu-in-free-fair-election-dino-melaye\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"I can defeat Tinubu in free, fair election \u2013 Dino Melaye\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Former Kogi lawmaker, Senator Dino Melaye, has declared that he would defeat President Bola Tinubu in a credible electio ...\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/policy\/i-can-defeat-tinubu-in-free-fair-election-dino-melaye\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Nigeria\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2026-04-19T19:53:28+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2026-04-19T21:14:39+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/sites\/3\/2026\/04\/sm_1776633194.338443.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1392\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"752\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"cfeditoren\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"cfeditoren\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/policy\/i-can-defeat-tinubu-in-free-fair-election-dino-melaye#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/policy\/i-can-defeat-tinubu-in-free-fair-election-dino-melaye\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"cfeditoren\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/#\/schema\/person\/068c7ab4e9634ae78ec5d54ec46598bb\"},\"headline\":\"I can defeat Tinubu in free, fair election \u2013 Dino Melaye\",\"datePublished\":\"2026-04-19T19:53:28+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2026-04-19T21:14:39+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/policy\/i-can-defeat-tinubu-in-free-fair-election-dino-melaye\"},\"wordCount\":401,\"commentCount\":0,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/policy\/i-can-defeat-tinubu-in-free-fair-election-dino-melaye#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/sites\/3\/2026\/04\/sm_1776633194.338443.jpg\",\"keywords\":[\"Nigeria\"],\"articleSection\":[\"all news\",\"Policy\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/policy\/i-can-defeat-tinubu-in-free-fair-election-dino-melaye#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/policy\/i-can-defeat-tinubu-in-free-fair-election-dino-melaye\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/policy\/i-can-defeat-tinubu-in-free-fair-election-dino-melaye\",\"name\":\"I can defeat Tinubu in free, fair election \u2013 Dino Melaye - 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