Former Kogi West Senator, Dino Melaye, has been summoned to appear before a Federal Capital Territory (FCT) Magistrate Court over allegations of tax evasion and underpayment of personal income tax.
Click Here to Join Our Whatsapp Channel
The criminal summons, dated August 21, 2025, directs Melaye to appear before the Magistrate Court in Wuse Zone II, Abuja, on September 5, 2025.According to the FCT Internal Revenue Service (FCT-IRS), Melaye failed to pay his mandatory personal income tax for 2023 and 2024, and also underpaid in previous years.
Records show he paid N85,000.08 in 2019, N100,000.08 in 2020, N120,000 in 2021, and N1,000,000 in 2022, despite declaring much higher incomes. For instance, in 2022, he declared earnings of over N6.5 million.
The agency explained that an administrative assessment for 2023 and 2024 was issued on May 23, 2025.
After Melaye failed to respond within 30 days, a “best judgment assessment” was raised on June 23, 2025.
Attempts to serve him directly proved unsuccessful, leading officials to paste the notice at his Maitama, Abuja residence on July 9, 2025.
The notice assessed Melaye’s tax liabilities at N234,896,000 for 2023 and N274,712,000 for 2024. It also flagged under-declaration and underpayment for 2020–2022, with additional assessments pending.
The FCT-IRS warned that failure to pay or object within 30 days would make the assessment final and trigger recovery proceedings.
Melaye, a former senator and House of Representatives member, once chaired the Senate Committee on the FCT and briefly the Senate Committee on Aviation.
He was also the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) candidate in the November 2023 Kogi State governorship election.
