Dino Melaye: A New Name for Indiscipline?

There is an inciting video trending in the social media of a personal mansion that belongs to Mr Dino Melaye, a former Nigerian senator. I suppose I'm expected to append the word 'Honourable' to his name, but I won't. I cannot contribute to the wanton abuse of that word in Nigeria.

I have watched Dino's dinosaur video a couple of times, trying to make sense of the motive for the brazen recording and its posting on social media. You can take this link to watch it if you have the stomach for what galls: https://m.facebook.com/story.php?story_fbid=10222825178793281&id=1090507647

First I ask, is this simply intended to hurt the feelings of Nigerians? To belittle them? To pour salt on their common injury? Why can't he detect the sarcasm and derision in the commentaries of the video man? Did Dino think the man was doing him a favour?

My conclusion is, he is either mad or is a plain fool. To think that he authored a book titled Antidotes for Corruption: The Nigerian Story makes the video even more anti-climatic.

At 46 is a man too young to have what we call common sense? No, I think. The bottom line is, Dino Melaye has to be another phrase for indiscipline. I dedicate this post to him.

Self-discipline is like a boat’s propellers—it moves you forward, despite opposing currents. Actions that deliver success and promotion are typically hard, stressful, and demanding. We need self-discipline to initiate and sustain them. No undisciplined person can succeed. It is simply not possible. Despite his wealth and acquisitions, I make bold to declare that Dino has not achieved success. Success and indiscipline are two immiscible elements. Says James Bilkey, “You will never be the person you can be if pressure, tension, and discipline are taken out of your life."

To cruise on success, we must bind all our actions together with self-discipline—an attribute I don't see in Dino's action—and it all begins with bringing self under subjection. If I may borrow Pietro Aretino’s thoughts, you're indeed a king when you know how to rule yourself. And English author, Chris Page, quips, “The most powerful control we can ever attain is that over ourselves.” Is Dino listening?

I like the American Heritage Dictionary’s definition of self-discipline—“Training and control of oneself and one’s conduct, usually for personal improvement.” But I like my own definition better, and that is “Taking a firm hold of oneself in every situation and in the face of all odds.”

Teaching on self-discipline, my pastor once urged, “Discipline your thoughts; discipline your words; discipline your actions. They will remove sin from you.” Allowing sins to flourish amidst our actions is akin to allowing grass to grow uncontrolled amongst precious crops. The latter would soon be choked to death by the ferocious attack of the former.

Whereas integrity and righteousness are necessary requirements for successful and fruitful actions, some people think that the demands of life make it imperative that we make negative compromises from time to time. But I disagree completely. I believe it is possible to do the right thing all the time. I do.

In Take Your Service to Maximum, I write about how integrity is built over a long time, but how it can be quickly lost in one moment of indiscretion. A person’s integrity is the equivalent of hard currency—they can trade with it. Hear Alan Simpson concerning the overriding importance of integrity: “If you have integrity, nothing else matters. If you don’t have integrity, nothing else matters.”

A person with integrity will not make and post Dino's video, even if all those nauseating assets were rightly acquired. A self-disciplined person will not say or do things that jolt fair conscience and morality.

I say in Take Your Service to Maximum that the erosion of integrity commonly arises from the following, attributes that flow naughtily from Dino's video:

I-nsensitivity to error

N-egation of good values

T-endency to pursue personal gain

E-nlarged appetite for profit

G-reed

R-eversal of accepted standards

I-nattention to warnings

T-ransfer of responsibility

Y-ielding to negative pressure

These are the moral imperatives we must deal with to give fillip to our actions. The reason many of us fail to move forward over a long time, despite working so hard and taking many ‘good’ actions, is that indiscipline and moral bankruptcy have been steadily eating away the profits from our actions.

Culled from my book Take That Action! For more articles visit https://www.chrisekpekurede.com/blog