From ‘Change’ to ‘Renewed Hope’: Ex-Sports Minister Dalung Criticises APC’s Lack of Political Covenant

Solomon Dalung, Nigeria’s former Minister of Sports and Youth Development, has expressed disappointment and has criticized the All Progressives Congress for not having a definitive political philosophy to fix the country.

Dalung, in an interview with ARISE NEWS on Tuesday, said as much as he admires President Bola Tinubu, he would not be hypocritical about the true state of things in the country.

“The APC has not given Nigerians a credible covenant of mandate. In 2015, we campaigned with the change mantra, immediately we came into office, Lai Mohammed, in response to the inability to quickly fix the problems of the country as expected from Nigeria, he came up with ‘change begins with you’ and then, in 2019, we had not successfully accounted for the change, we scaled it up to next level.

“From Next level which left the country worse than it met it, we are today talking about renewed hope. So, there is no categorical political covenant that the APC as a political party, is committed to and is pursuing and this explains why I am very uncomfortable with resignation because that is calling for anarchy.

“I am the president’s greatest admirer because he too is a comrade and there is the spirit among the comrades to support one another, but one thing we can’t do to ourselves is to be hypocritical. We tell ourselves the truth, no matter how bitter it is and all I have been doing is to draw his attention to know that much is expected from him because Nigerians expected him to amend and replay the Lagos miracle which transformed the state into a successful economy it is today. 

“But within the last seven months, it does appear that every day, things are slipping off his control, thereby generating unnecessary national frustrations.”

He also said the people working with the presidency are more concerned with protecting the image of the president, than looking into the genuine concern of the people.

“What I have been trying to do in recent times is to try to place in proper perspective, the attempt to try to change the narratives from the real issues affecting Nigerians to mere propaganda and cyberbullying, because the president’s men are instead of being a source of strength to contributing ideas and knowledge as to how to deal with escalating frustrations of Nigerians about the high cost of living, they tend to invest more energy on bullying anybody who has anything to offer or lend his voice to the increasing echoes of concern.

“President Tinubu’s presidency basically appears not to be distinguishable from the same grip of power and fortification by people within the veranda of power. I say this because if you gauge their statements and body language, they tend to over protect the president and deploy maximum energy to go after anybody who may even be genuinely expressing concerns that need to be addressed.

“I begin with the national security adviser who has no business to champion a campaign of blame game because he introduced this. That signifies that he has something to hide from Nigerians that he is trying to over protect. There are people who have made the presidency inaccessible. The president is fortified by a group of people who do not allow alternative opinions to filter across.”

While acknowledging his own shortcomings and failures during his time in the past government, Dalung called on the President to concentrate on tackling the issues and not play the blame game.

“I have never claimed to be a saint. I have admitted several times and even if it requires that I will be tie to the stake and shot for my role in Buhari’s government, I deserve it because we failed Nigerians. I’ve said this several times and have apologized several times. We failed because those promises that constituted Buhari’s government mandate, which I was a part of, were not achieved after eight years. So, I am not trying to play saint and despite that, Buhari didn’t survive my toxic mouth, even in and out of government.

“All I am saying is how can President Tinubu be surrounded by such Cambridge intellectuals, yet local women in Minna understood the dynamics of Nigerian politics more than them. These women, none of them were wearing anything more than ten thousand and are not properly schooled but were able to mobilize people to protest, meaning the thesis of their protest was more superior to the intellectual prowess of Bwala and Onanuga because the women were saying that an empty stomach does not listen to a voice of gospel, and that is what I am saying that the president should concentrate on tackling and not the blame game.

“I referred to the government as Rudderless because the president on the 29^th of May, armed Nigerians with a weapon to criticize and not spare him because he said: Do not pity me; I looked for the job and I got it. So, those protecting him cannot be more catholic than the pope.”

Chioma Kalu