A former Minister of Sport and Youth Development, Solomon Dalung, is the Director-General of the Presidential Campaign of the Social Democratic Party (SDP). In this interview by ISAAC SHOBAYO, he speaks on the forthcoming presidential election, his relationship with President Muhammadu Buhari and other issues.
What is your assessment of the state of the nation?
There is no national cohesion, which is the very foundation of our political democracy, yet political actors have all developed an ostrich mentality and are pretending as if all is well with us. We could see the country running on a slope, yet we are pretending as if all is well with us. We could see the country tuning very quickly into confusion, yet we are pretending we are running a transition. The characters of the main actors left multiculturalism and diversity under attack because this transition has attacked our diversity, our sanity, and our multiculturalism. This same transition presents some of the most controversial political figures that ever vied for the office of president. The PDP, which started zoning in 1999, in this same transition, introduced confusion and abandoned the zoning without an explanation. They introduced confusion into this transition. The APC is coming from abysmal performance and distortion of our national polity. The eight years of the APC introduced the worst things that ever happened to this country.
I am guilty because I was a founding member of the APC. We never promised Nigerians in 2015 that they would be kidnapped and sold in the forests like animals; we never promised Nigerians that the central bank governor would suddenly be running away from the SSS screening and be hidden. We never ever promised Nigerians that we would set up a government that would be fighting itself, with demonstrators in front of the state house against the central bank governor and then demonstrators at the central bank in favour of the central bank governor. We never promised Nigerians this.
We never promised Nigerians that hunger would replace diseases because hunger kills more people in Nigeria than even malaria. We didn’t promise this. We never promised Nigerians that corruption was going to be pontificated to replace religion; we never did this. Today, corruption in Nigeria is the first religion of politicians and the APC government.
Do you think the presidential candidate of the APC can inherit the 14 million votes of President Muhammadu Buhari in the February 25 election?
It is impossible for the APC presidential candidate to inherit those votes. It is mere fantasy. What you see happening, the renting of crowds and the political jamboree, will never translate into votes. Forget about what you are seeing. Nigerians are so smart that if you call people now, even when you are not contesting, they will understand that you have been bought by one politician and will not troop there because they have realised that to disarm a wicked man, you must first take the weapon from him. The national cake, which would have translated into development, is in the pockets of people parading the political landscape as candidates. Look at the political rallies: those who are in PDP rallies will still attend APC rallies because it is a sharing of the national cake. Wait for February 25 and you will be in for a very big surprise because no one is going to win this election at the first ballot; the winner is not going to emerge (at the first ballot).
Are you envisioning a second ballot?
The second ballot is very imminent. The APC, with its abysmal performance, is busy presenting its contradiction of an election. The PDP is also involved. With 16 years in power, the PDP has a lot of money to play with. Obi is the reaction to the introduction of same-faith ticket by the APC.
Now there are people like [Peter] Obi in that reactionary movement. There are genuine Nigerians who believe in the unity of this country, and they are supporting Obi from the north and the south. There are revolutionary politicians like us who think that okay, having been sand-witched by two devils, and ahead of you is the deep blue sea, you would have learned how to swim now that you don’t have a jacket. This is the situation we found ourselves in and many people are jumping. Obi’s movement is going to checkmate the emergence of a winner at the first ballot. [Rabiu] Kwankwaso is also helping in this regard. Kwankwaso is going to take votes from both the APC and the PDP. So, these 14 million votes by President Buhari in the last election have been mutilated into the forerunners being projected. But I see the president emerging as a dark horse.
What are the chances of the SDP in coming elections?
The SDP is like a very good player who has not been featured by the coach but is warming up now that the match appears to be a stalemate and time is running out. The SDP is warming up by the touchline and once it is introduced, you will hear, ‘it is a goal! And that is when the audience and supporters will jubilate. So, the SDP is the party to watch. I speak scientifically: the SDP is nowhere in Nigeria but came in second in the Ekiti State election, defeating the PDP. The SDP is working underground. We are not into the renting of crowds; we are engaging community leaders; we are not organising rallies and this has been fruitful. We tested it in Ekiti and it yielded results. In Osun State, we had a candidate but instead of wasting money on campaign, we introduced what was called a ‘campaign of anti-vote buying’. We realised that with the BVAS, unscrupulous politicians engaged more in vote buying. And what did we do? We targeted the people who were carrying money into the polling units and wrested the bags from them, and they disappeared, paving the way for a genuine winner to emerge in Osun. We shall replicate that in the general election to check those who want to engage in vote buying. They will meet us with our anti-vote-buying mechanism on the ground. The 2022 Electoral Act has cured all electoral malfeasances except vote buying. Vote buyers will meet us on the field on February 25. Anyone who goes to the polling booth with money and is not arrested by the police, we will urge Nigerians to take possession of their money first so that they will have enough strength to vote. I can assure you that it is not going to be business as usual.
In some quarters, it is assumed that you are criticising the APC-led administration because you fell out with President Buhari. What is your take on this?
I did not have a falling-out with Mr President. I am still very close to him. Nigerians misunderstood our relationship. I did not go looking for the president for a political partnership. The president came looking for me, and when I agreed to work with him, he said he knew me to be a very frank and honest man. He said that he knew I would not spare him if he erred. And I told him that if he erred, I would treat him the way I had been treating others. The day I did not tell Buhari the truth, I would have betrayed him.
We are still very close. The last time I saw him, I asked him whether we agreed in 2015 that they should be selling Nigerians like animals. I asked him whether corruption which we agreed to fight we were going to promote it. When I was in government, we had a running battle with the late Abba Kiyari, may his soul rest in peace, until I left office because each time they crossed the line, they heard me. I didn’t keep quiet for four years, and if not for President Buhari, I would not have lasted as minister for four years because, after inauguration, the late Abba Kyari, at a state function attended by diplomats and government officials, looked at me and asked the president, ‘Why would you allow this boy to be wearing Khaki and a red beret?’ I replied him immediately in the presence of the president and all the diplomats. I said, ‘Mr President, can you help me call Abba Kyari to order? Who told him that I am happy with what he is wearing?’ I told the president to imagine a man wearing a dress made by three people; he was so comfortable and complaining about me, somebody who wore three yards of cloth. The president did not say anything, but after the state function, the president told the late Abba Kyari, ‘I have been warning you that this boy is a smart boy. See the way he has embarrassed you, and by extension, you have also made him embarrass me’. I resigned from the APC as the chairman of the Contact and Mobilisation Committee for Bola Ahmed Tinubu. If I were still there, maybe I would have been controlling all these dollars. I did not fall out with anybody; we are all together. I am just reminding them of our promises since 2015 which we have not fulfilled to date.
Do you maintain your stance that you don’t want a president who would be hijacked by political bandits?
No, I will reinforce it. Out of these forerunners that the country is projecting to be president, two of them may end up being victims of political banditry. If they are elected, they will be locked up in the villa, and millions will be going around sharing the resources of this country. I will not support any president who doesn’t have the energy, motivation, ambition or exposure to run this country.
Don’t you think the incumbency factor may give the APC an edge in the coming election?
The PDP was in government for 16 years but they were defeated in 2015 by the APC. It is not a guarantee for any poorly performing elected person to stand on the high ground of structures for a number of years in office. The only thing that any person who is contesting election this year can survive is if he has been elected based on several factors; if he is not elected, it is going to be his character, integrity and antecedents that would speak for him. Don’t be deceived, Nigerians are not going to elect parties but individuals. It is going to be a rainbow coalition in February, and it is a safe rainbow coalition in South Africa because it ends apartheid. Next month, Nigerians will build a rainbow coalition that will end this political banditry and failure and set the foundation for a nation where people from different political backgrounds, different political ideologies, and different religions will come together and build a better country for Nigeria.
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