Former Sports Minister, Solomon Dalung, has alleged that the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) is using public funds to buy people, including opposition Governors and House of Representatives members, into the party.
Naija News reports that Dalung made this known in an interview with Cable while speaking about the former Governor of Kaduna State, Nasir El-Rufai‘s plan to lobby opposition leaders, such as Atiku Abubakar and Peter Obi, to join the Social Democratic Party (SDP).
According to Dalung, El-Rufai is not bribing any politician like the APC, noting that lobbing is the major weapon of democracy.
He said, “If lobbying them to join the party is not a crime and he has not broken any law, there shouldn’t be any issue with that. After all, the APC is going around using public funds to buy people to join their party. Has that not been happening?
“If the APC is buying governors, members of the house of representatives, with either positions or money to join their party, what is wrong with the former governor Nasir el-Rufai lobbying? He didn’t say that he would bribe them. Lobbying is the major weapon of democracy. I think there is nothing wrong with it. If he lobbies them well, and those people he lobbies believe in Nigerian democracy, they will align with him to solve the problem of leadership, which is bedevilling Nigeria now.”
Speaking on the speculation that Tinubu’s government is hellbent on crippling opposition parties, Dalung said, “What is politics? Politics is the competitive struggle for interest within a political space to influence others to accept your opinion. If the president feels that he has not performed very well and if he is going to contest again, he may not be reelected. So the only thing he should do is to weaken the political space by creating crises in the political parties; then that is his style of politics. That means he is not a democrat that he claims but a despot and tyrant who metamorphosed as a democrat just to get power, and so he is only unveiling the character behind his democratic credentials.
“So, it is not something to worry about. Other political parties should also adopt that style of infiltrating the APC and disintegrating it. Most of the political actors in the opposition have better credentials in politics than the president. They can also influence and make sure that they destabilise the APC because the president has taught them that politics is that of weakening your opponent. For me, I don’t see that as an issue.”