The former Nigerian Minister of Youth and Sports Development, Barrister. Solomon Selcap Dalung has said, the All Progressive Congress (APC) came together, to sack the People’s Democratic Party (PDP) by accusing PDP of blatant impunity
He stated, “If the impunity in the PDP cannot be allowed to continue, how will I continue to swim in an ocean of impunity in APC and pretend that I am part of it? And since there was no hope of change in sight I resigned from the party even though I am a very close ally of the president. ”
Dalung who is presently the Director General of the Social Democratic Party (SDP), a Presidential campaign organization gave reasons behind his resignation from his former party on the Now Streaming morning live discussion program, on the Advent Cable Network Nigeria Television (ACNNTV).
Dalung recounted how it all started when APC decided to remove the elected national working committee — Oshiomhole was replaced by a sitting governor, and said: “This act was a violation of section 183 of the constitution, also the constitution of APC, which states that nobody should hold multiple executive positions.” I informed the party of the singular act which was an attack on constitutionalism and the party’s moral standard in which the party was built, as a party that came into power for change. He said“
He said, “impunity was what drove us into coming together to sack PDP and if the same reasons why the party is created is polluted by trampling on the very fundamental legal regime that governs the party body then it needs to be checked”.
“Even at raising an alarm, no serious actions were taken. Instead, I was ignored and referred to as a wailer, and some said because I lost my position as a minister, which I never lost but served the stipulated tenure and left.”
Dalung, said he joined the SDP because he did not want to join any of the big parties; he asked, “What moral high ground do I have to join the PDP since I sacked them?”
SDP is the second oldest political party that has suffered injustice in Nigeria and, to date has not been addressed.
He affirmed his choice of party and stated why he did not join the Labor Party. “I did not join the labor party because it is an issue of choice. After a thorough search of political parties in Nigeria that have suffered injustice; the labor party has never had any incident of injustice, unlike the SDP which won counselor and president and was annulled.”
“The government took over the winner’s possession and properties, all the government has done to date is to validate the day June 12 but has not apologized for all thein justice that took place”, he adds.
ASUU Vs FG
In regards to ASUU, he analyzed the problem between ASUU and the government as a matter of injustice and insincerity. He said, “The military has solved the issue of university funding before they left, so funding of universities should never have been an issue that should have degenerated to strike.
Giving accounts of the military regime when ASSU went on strike, Under Abacha’s regime, he said ASUU submitted an initiative that would fund university education; the initiative was to task each company doing business in Nigeria with 1% of their profit and put it in a trust fund. Then a trustworthy and reputable Nigerian would be put in place to manage It.
“ASUU drafted the decree and it was signed by Abacha, upon seeing the influx of money made within six months, as constituted in the decree, all the funds were to go to tertiary education.
However, ASUU was called upon for a review of the decree and an amendment was made. In the new amendment, it was concluded that some percentage of the money would go to the federal government. This was the case until Nigeria came to democratic rule.
“The politicians’ ruling discovered the tertiary education fund as a gold mine, which changes everything because the objectives of the education trust fund were tampered with and the money became a tool for serving political interest, this was the fund that was initially created by ASUU.” He narrated.
Insecurity
On security, Dalung opined that the insecurity that was still on the rise was because of the “politics and the emergence of conflict entrepreneurs When you have people, who are responsible for providing security but are getting interested in security, it becomes an enterprise and it will not end.”
He reiterated the antecedent of the Nigerian military and security during the war in Sierra Leone and Liberia, in which they fought and won, which meant that the Nigerian military could tackle and curb the worrisome activities of insecurity in the country rapidly.
However, he said where the problem lies was governance, which had become an enterprise where people in government were more interested in the resources than the provision of basic amenities, i.e., security.
He mentioned that: “the more equipment we purchase, the more notorious and embodied they become, which means these theories of the purchase of arms and equipment revolve around the conflict entrepreneurs who are beneficiaries of this.”
In other words, he said the Nigerian military and security were strong enough to tackle insecurity in the country; they were just weak and undervalued by the government.
In conclusion, he said on the issue of the stolen refineries and the theft of oil, Hon. Dalung declared that; “The stolen refineries and the theft of oil is a conspiracy of the same power block within the government and this has a long history according to the GMD of NNPC Kyari, who said it has been going on for 22 years.”
He restated that “This stealing cannot be done without the complicity of the high-ranking people in the government.”
“The business of oil theft can only be done by the people who are in government, and they enjoy the full protection of the state”, he adds.