Academics have said that Dino Melaye ’s donning of academic gown to the Senate plenary session on Tuesday is a “juvenile attempt” at proving that he attended the Ahmadu Bello University , Zaria .
Senator Melaye had stormed the National Assembly Plenary Session on Tuesday (today ) in what academics described as “ceremonial ” gown , rather than an academic robe .
Another version of Dino Melaye’ s video mocking critics emerges
The senator representing Kogi West has been under fire in the past week , as critics allege that he did not earn an academic degree from the ABU as claimed .
In his defence , the Vice Chancellor of the institution, Prof. Ibrahim Garba , had deposed before the Senate Committee on Ethics , Privileges and Public Petitions on Monday that Melaye earned a Bachelor of Arts degree in Geography from ABU , with a Third Class .
Speaking to The PUNCH online, Professor of History and a former Dean of Faculty of Arts at the Lagos State University , LASU , Ojo , Abolade Adeniji, said if Melaye felt that his appearing in what he thought was an academic gown would confirm his claim that he attended ABU , it is “juvenile . ”
Adeniji said, “This is a juvenile attempt at justifying his claims that he attended ABU . He has only made a fool of himself.
“What the senator has done is unusual, and this should be a source of concerns to his fellow senators.
“The senatorial position is an exalted one that should not be trivialised the way Senator Melaye is doing .
“The appearance he assumed today is not for an adult , much less a senator . He looks so cheap . It ’s a political drama that was meant to prove that he has a degree . ”
Another academic , the Dean of Arts Faculty and Associate Professor of English Language at LASU, Dr . Adeleke Fakoya , said the gown that Senator Dino Melaye wore “is a ceremonial one . ”
“This is a ceremonial gown and not an academic robe . It is a ceremonial uniform usually worn during formal ceremonies in any Ivory Tower .
“Even then, you can only wear such ceremonial robes if you are a part of the procession in the academic environment ; never in the context in which Senator Melaye wore it today.
“The type of gown that the senator wore in that photograph is usually worn by vice -chancellors, registrars , deans , etc .
“If Melaye intended it to prove that he graduated from ABU , then he missed it big time because the type of gown he is wearing is not for someone being conferred with a first degree, to start with .
“It is a ceremonial costume that should not be worn in frivolous manner as this senator has done. It’ s either hired or stolen . ”
On the implications of Senator Melaye ’s action , Fakoya said it wouldn ’t change anything.
He said it’ s like the case of a church leader who chooses to wear a Pope’ s gown .
“It won ’t make that person a Pope, because we know the processes involved towards becoming a Pope.
“Ditto for academics . You must earn what you claim to possess, academically or by way of honorary bestowal .
“The onus is on anyone to justify his claims to any degree, instead of treating sacred objects with frivolity as we have here. ”
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