0
Solomon Dalung is a former Minister of Sports Development and a chieftain of the African Democratic Congress (ADC). He speaks to CHIBUIKE CHUKWU on a number of national issues, highlighting President Tinubu’s major hurdles ahead of the 2027election and why the Muslim-Muslim ticket of the APC won’t resonate in the north again, among others.
Particularly among the opposition members, so many people believe that Tinubu hasn’t done enough to even warrant re-election. What is your take on that?
The greatest thing a politician can do to himself is to set a record which he will later abandon. When Tinubu was governor in Lagos, Nigerians believed that he performed magic. So, when he became president, they were expecting Lagos magic in Nigeria, but they got the reverse. So, if people are feeling just like I feel that he has performed abysmally, they are correct. And it’s going to affect how he will campaign in 2027. It’s also going to affect his prospects. But Tinubu’s greatest problem in 2027 is not going to be the election. It is his qualification. Because, you know, when the issue of qualification went to the Supreme Court in 2023, the Supreme Court said it was a pre-election matter. So, now some people have already gone to INEC and filed a petition, and they will be going to court. So, that is one of the major hurdles he is going to deal with. There are about four or five questions about his credentials that he has to answer. So, we’re likely going to have a constitutional conference. But people don’t understand the president. If there is trouble, the president can remain in office for one year. He can declare a state of emergency to remain in office for one year. And he has the National Assembly in his support. So, Tinubu might discover that he is not going to win the election, or they’re going to stop him. The problem is that he will just activate the mechanism of extension of tenure and spend one year there before he will think what will happen next. You know I’m a revolutionary, I’m not a politician. Politicians just harvest our activism. So, I think we must be mindful of this. And the likes of Peter Obi and Kwankwaso cannot fight. These are people that cannot fight. Peter Obi could not fight the 2023 election because he has properties, he’s afraid that in fighting, if the youths are on the street, they are going to touch his shopping mall. And they talk about change, forgetting that change requires sacrifice. Kwankwaso has a very big house here in Abuja; they have properties and you say they want to do a revolution. No. It’s only people like us who have no houses, that they will ask to buy a gallon of petrol for protest and we will buy. It’s very easy for us, after all, we have nothing to lose.
You said some people will be going to the court over Tinubu’s credentials. Given the antecedents of the judiciary in recent years, how trustworthy to you is that arm of government in looking at such matters on their merit?
No, I think the issue of the judiciary is a different ballgame. The judiciary is a creation of the society. You see, sometimes we blame the judiciary. We expect angels to come and dance in the mud and return to heaven with clean clothes. It’s not going to be possible. So, you see, the judiciary is a product of the Nigerian society. There are quite good judges, but the majority of them are our products or products of the society. Who are those that influence judgment? It’s the politicians. Who manipulates this or that? It’s the politicians. A judge who is ordinarily left in his legal space will write a very sound judgment. A judge is like God sitting on earth. But you can’t ask an angel to sit and be looking at dollars in Nigeria and think that he will still be thinking about heaven. There are no dollars in heaven. So where he is seeing dollars here, he will behave like where the money is going to be used. So I think we better look at this thing fashionably. But my greatest prayer is that I want this country to be united. I want this country to be peaceful. I don’t know why it is difficult for the president to give us security. I don’t know why. This is because anybody who will tell me that insecurity persists because the government cannot deal with it is lying. When I was a chairman of a local government, about 500 people picked arms and took over a community. The following day, I went with security and flushed them out. That’s just a local government chairman. So how can a president who is a commander-in-chief cannot give Nigeria security? That’s why some people say there are saboteurs. I think so also.
Talking about insecurity, Nigeria is presently under siege following sustained insecurity in parts of the country. Just recently, the abductors of Oyo School children were released while others in the northern part of the country are still in captivity. Also recently, people were kidnapped in Plateau State and so many other areas. What is your take on this given that it’s almost getting out of hand?
Well, I think the security situation in the country right now is really out of control. The criminal elements, whether they are bandits, whether they are terrorists or ISIS, Boko Haram, kidnappers, I think they’ve already succeeded in testing their resolve, and they are quite convinced that nothing can stop them. So, they are perpetuating violence with impunity, and the state seems incapacitated or unwilling to deal with it. So, the situation is pathetic and the sovereignty of the country has eroded considerably.
Before, this level of insecurity was concentrated in the northern part of the country. Today, the entire South West is almost at the mercy of criminals. It has gone to the extent that people have begun to question our capacity. Does it mean we don’t have the kind of armed forces to confront this menace or are you suspecting sabotage from within the military?
It’s not the issue of if they are more than the government. The terrorists are in more control of their situation more than the government. The government has only been giving lip service and trying to encourage people to believe that they are on top of the situation. But in reality, terrorists, kidnappers, bandits and all other criminal elements have already successfully taken over the security architecture. And the government has no political will to deal with the situation, that’s the summary.
What can you say about your state, Plateau, where recent incidents occurred….
(Cuts in) There is nowhere that I would want to isolate and discuss, because I don’t want this issue of insecurity to be pinned down to any particular part of the country. It is happening everywhere. Over 100 people have been killed in Benue. Is that my state? Are they not human beings? Let’s discuss the issue of insecurity with compassion, and let us look at how it affects humanity. There is nowhere that this thing will not go. When it was happening in the north, people in the southwest were saying, oh, it’s a northern problem. They kidnapped students right inside Oyo, and it took 53 days or 56 days before they were released. So I think the issue of insecurity in this country should be considered from a broader and national perspective, and not what is happening in pockets or selected places.
Individuals have pinned certain happenings within the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) to the fact that the electoral body might be working for the ruling party. For example, the recent ruling of the Appeal Court is one that has come under the spotlight. As ADC chieftain, what is your take on INEC ahead of the 2027 election?
Well, I don’t pick media gossip or social media rumours to act on. All I know is that the credibility of INEC is questioned by the majority of Nigerians. Nigerians do not even believe in the leadership of INEC, and that is why so many groups have accused the chairman of the commission of bias. Institutionally, INEC has not portrayed itself as an unbiased empire, no. At one point, it will look like it is an unbiased empire. In another breath, it will demonstrate that it is doing the bidding of a paid master. So, INEC, as far as I am concerned, is going to find itself in a big dilemma in 2007, and it may not be able to resolve it. But to be honest, its capacity to conduct elections or declare anybody a winner is very, very remote.
Given the allegations by so many, particularly members of the opposition, that the last election in 2023 was anything but credible, do you believe that next year’s election will have some levels of credibility? This question plays out given that I have asked a lot of people who expressed apathy because of past experience?
The question is whether I believe in INEC’s capacity to deliver. Certainly not. INEC has no credibility, locally, nationally and internationally. So, a discredited institution cannot give us a credible election. It is not simply because of the issue of candidates in my party and the presidential candidates of my party. For now we are still transiting from the primaries to uploading the names of candidates. So, we’ll wait because you know, nobody becomes a candidate in an election until INEC publishes his or her name. Why nobody becomes a candidate until INEC publishes your name is because when INEC publishes the names that are uploaded, sometimes in the process of uploading names, a lot of things may happen. The APC concluded their primaries and candidates won and were returned. But when names were being moved to INEC, some of the names disappeared. And there is also every tendency that when INEC will release their final list, many names will not be there. So, as to who is going to contest the election will depend on when INEC publishes the names of candidates.
Apart from the crisis rocking the various opposition parties, so many people believe that the ADC is highly depleted given the exit of Peter Obi and Kwankwaso. I was discussing with an ADC chieftain recently, he admitted that particularly in the north west, ADC may struggle. What are the chances of the party in 2027?
Politics is about alignments and realignments. When you find yourself in the situation you mentioned, you intensify your mobiliation. You change your strategy. The exit of Kwankwaso and Peter Obi does not at all affect the party. Rather, the party gains because they came with some of their men who refused to leave. So, ADC is the beneficiary of their departure. There are some of those people now that are even returning to the party who earlier followed them out. So, anybody telling you that somebody is a huge branch in the north or it’s this and that in the north is telling you lies?. The north has a common problem, which is insecurity. Anybody who is not going to tackle the issue of insecurity in the north may not get the votes of the north in 2027. It is as easy as that. Today, Kwankwaso is not the presidential candidate of NDC. He’s a running mate. Of course, you don’t expect him to be the face of the party, but people believe that the three states of Kano, Katsina and Kaduna will be in the bag for the NDC. Has he won those places before? What magic will he do to win it now? Why do we go on very wild speculations? He has never won Kaduna. He has never won Katsina. So, how will he win now? Will it now happen because Peter Obi is the candidate? Is Peter Obi acceptable in the north? Peter Obi won the election in 2023 in Plateau, Benue, Edo and Lagos. And it was because of the Muslim-Muslim ticket. And after the election, Peter Obi did not manage the goodwill very well and it will affect him in 2027. He didn’t even visit Plateau. He didn’t either visit Benue. Peter Obi is not a manager of political goodwill. He is just somebody that cashed on the opportunity. He’s not a good manager because how can you get up to a million votes in Plateau and after the election, you have never even come to the state. He didn’t also go to Benue. And he’s just jumping out of Nigeria. He’s planning to visit foreign countries every now and then; is that how he will come and form a government. Where would he get the votes this time? Let me tell you, in Plateau now, NDC is going to be nowhere to be found. The battle is between ADC and APC.
But people said picking Kwankwaso as a running mate by Obi is strategic…
(Cuts in) How strategic is picking Kwankwaso? Kwankwaso is not even on ground in the north, Kwankwaso is not a national leader. Kwankwaso only plays politics in Kano.
Despite the opposition to Muslim-Muslim ticket before, President Tinubu still picks Shettima as his running mate. How do you think the development will affect the chances of the APC, particularly in a sub-region like the Middle Belt given the upsurge in insecurity in that part of the country and Nigeria as a whole?
The Muslim-Muslim ticket is not going to be sold in the north this time because the north has much more challenges than religious or ethnic sentiment. Even in Plateau, it’s not going to be an issue again. As well, no Christian is going to vote in 2027 based on a Muslim-Muslim ticket or Christian-Muslim ticket, or political, religious association or religion. No, even in the north east and north west, nobody is going to vote based on religion because all people want is who is going to tackle their greatest challenge which is insecurity. There are those who are dollar politicians. If enough dollars enter their hands, they are going to campaign based on dollars. There are those who are going to campaign with security. There are those who are going to campaign with religion. Yes. So, 2027 is a completely different ballgame this time.