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Tag: Dalung

  • Dalung, let’s see your score card

    Dalung, let’s see your score card

    By Jonathan Abang Ugbal

    Solomon Dalung, the former Minister of Youth and Sports who almost brought the high office he occupied to ridicule with his comical costumes has spared no effort to whitewash his unenviable legacy. It is a consuming passion that he is beholden to because he erroneously believes that painting his predecessors in office in a bad light will lead to his own redemption. His scathing attacks on Sunday Dare, his immediate predecessor, and most recently on the incumbent Minister of Sports Development, Senator John Owan Enoh, are critical strategies from his infamous playbook.

    It is no surprise that Dalung is wielding with relish, the sledgehammer handed over to him by the shambolic performance of Team Nigeria at the just concluded Paris Olympic Games to swing at the current Minister of Sports Development, Senator John Owan Enoh who at any rate, has taken full responsibility for this poor outing and promised a thorough and comprehensive review of our dreadful performance at the Olympics to forestall future occurrence. Dalung is at his inglorious best spewing slander, insults, and aspersions on the Minister in the false hope that the disastrous performance of Team Nigeria will somehow mitigate his own failings as Sports Minister. In other words, rather than a fair comment from the standpoint of patriotism and as one who once occupied such an exalted office, the former Minister chooses recklessness and sees his redemption in what has become a national failure. But by drawing from his infamous playbook of bluster, insults, and vile propaganda in his attempt to take down the current Minister, the former has albeit invariably invited a closer interrogation of his own tenure in office. After all ,he who comes to equity must, as a necessity, come with clean hands.

    Dalung’s depiction of the current Minister as a misfit and a stranger to sports is most unfortunate but immediately calls attention to his own pedigree when he was appointed a Minister by Buhari in 2015. Before his appointment, he was a Legal Officer 11 with the Correctional Services with zero experience in both sports administration and, indeed, in anything else. As Minister, Dalung’s many gaffes were a source of constant embarrassment to the nation. At a news conference, he referred to Nigeria as the ” United States of Nigeria.” Not done yet. He followed up this Freudian slip with another banger. During his budget defence before the House of Representatives Committee in 2016, he told the committee that, “The funds spended was properly spended because we got them from intervention funds from Mr. President.” Dalung’s incoherence, unstructured and uncoordinated statements prompted a respected national daily to write that,” Dalung has become anti-Sports Minister.” The same newspaper went on to state that ” Dalung is not fit to be Sports Minister.” Lest we forget, it was during his tenure that Nigeria was subjected to international ridicule by failing successively to qualify for the Nations Cup, in both the 2016 and 2018 editions, Nigeria was absent. In the 2016 Olympics, Nigeria got a bronze in football, which he can’t even claim, with Mikel Obi coming out recently to state that he provided funding for the flight tickets of the team. But for Mikel Obi’s intervention, it’s not wrong to say the teams’ chances of playing at the Olympics would have been jeopardised. This is testimony to the kind of leadership Dalung provided. That’s not all, as minister he neither paid the camp and competition allowances nor the winning bonuses to the Dream Team IV (Under23), the team that won the nation its only Olympic medal (bronze).

    Read Also: Northern minorities call for restructuring of Nigeria into three regions

    At the moment, Senator John Owan Enoh, the Sports minister he has chosen to cast aspersions on, is currently treating and pushing for the payment of these bonuses . Records show that Senator Enoh has been transparent, detailed, and up to date in payments of allowances , bonuses & grants to athletes since he assumed office. Now, it is his responsibility to clear debts owed under Dalung’s watch as Minister of Youths and Sports.

    His often touted democratisation of sports federations under his watch was a ruse, an unmitigated disaster that unleashed crisis on the Athletics Federation of Nigeria (AFN). The raging inferno he ignited resulted in in-fighting, chaos, and endless power tussle. During his tenure, the National Stadium, Lagos, the Moshood Abiola National Stadium, Abuja, Obafemi Awolowo Stadium, Ibadan became national monuments of decay and shame.

    By the time Dalung was leaving office after four years, his boast to reawaken ‘the dry bones in the sporting facilities owned by the federal government laid in ruins, a befitting epitaph for a man who promised so much and yet delivered so little. Under his watch, the International Athletics Associations Federation mistakenly transferred $135,000 to the Athletics Federation of Nigeria (AFN). The ratification of this simple error became marred in recriminations as Dalung failed to deal with the issue decisively and instead resorted to the blame game. He reneged on his initial promise to pay 50 percent of the money in order to stop the world body, slamming a ban on the country, thereby fuelling the crisis even further.

    After four uneventful years, Dalung’s unenviable legacy has already been settled. However, I am yet to understand how launching a withering attack on the current Minister of Sports will help his cause. The current minister is just a year in office, but his progressive imprint is already beginning to be felt. In addition to sustaining private sector-driven initiatives that he inherited, he has equally initiated a raft of progressive reforms of his own with grassroots sports development, infrastructure maintenance and upgrade, the welfare of retired and active sports men and women, and the rejuvenation of school sports as some of the highlights of his reforms.

    Under the current minister, the concessioning of the National Stadium, Lagos, which he inherited is almost completed with the memo to FEC for final approval already signed off. How well he implements his W.A.I.F.A R. Policy and the enduring impact it makes in ushering in the transformation of Nigeria’s sports sector.

    There is no doubt that Nigeria’s abysmal outing at the Olympics has cast a pall and overshadowed the ongoing silent revolution in the sports sector but the truth is that rather than dwell in perpetual agony over this disappointment, Nigerians should support the Minister’s plan to carry out a thorough and comprehensive review of our outing to forestall future occurrence.

    •Jonathan Abang Ugbal, is a sports enthusiast and journalist who writes from Mbube , Cross River State , Nigeria.

  • Dalung’s dyspepsia

    Dalung’s dyspepsia

    Dyspepsia is a medical term translating in simple English to ‘indigestion.’ That might be what ails former Sports and Youth Development Minister Solomon Dalung. The ex-minister may be having challenges with digesting his mid-span displacement from the government of former President Muhammadu Buhari, and may be chewing the cud of bitterness long after. Buhari was a two-term president from 2015-2023, but Dalung was minister during only the first term (2015-2019).

    Recently, the ex-minister dismissed the Buhari era as an egregious mishap, saying he failed to fulfill promises made to Nigerians during the 2015 electioneering, got his name dragged in the mud by people around him and must now be living in regretful retirement. Speaking with Trust Radio, the former minister touted being a founding member of ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) and, hence, has a responsibility to speak the truth. “We failed to meet expectations, and I am not hypocritical because as a major stakeholder who campaigned vigorously in 2015 and went to the nooks and crannies of the North, of all the promises we made, we fulfilled none of them,” he said inter alia, adding: “The political covenant we had with Nigerians was that we were going to address the security situation, we were going to revamp the economy and we were going to give corruption a major blow so that we could minimize it to the barest minimum. Looking back, reflecting and evaluating the situation as it is today, we failed woefully.”

    Read Also: NFF: Dalung  gives damning verdict on FIFA status

    But Dalung’s political antecedents do not show he is sufficiently dispassionate to make such iterations as could be regarded with all gravity. After being dropped as minister, he rubbished the ex-president’s era a couple of times as about the worst in Nigeria’s history. Yet his own performance as minister was viewed by many as distinctively inept in public service record. And not only was Dalung inept administratively, so also was he politically. In the 2019 elections, APC lost his polling unit and ward to opposition Peoples Democratic Party (PDP). Asked by journalists if that had not disqualified him from being re-nominated in Buhari’s second term, he said he wasn’t bothered about not being able to deliver his constituencies for the party because “I am not doing all my good works as minister for any political gain or mobilization… What I am currently doing for my people and the nation at large is beyond winning elections for my party in my ward.” Unfortunately, only Dalung saw what he claimed to be doing, and it surprised no one that Buhari didn’t return him as minister. He has since defected from the APC and has featured prominently in other political parties. Whatever he now says can hardly be seen beyond ‘sour grapes’ syndrome of an opposition partisan.

  • $130,000 refund: IAAF has no right to ban Nigeria — Dalung

    Minister of Youth and Sports, Solomon Dalung says the International Association of Athletics Federations (IAAF) has no reason to ban Nigeria for the refund of funds the world athletics governing body erroneously paid the country.

    IAAF stated Nigeria was overpaid by $130,000 in 2017, a sum which the body asked Nigeria to pay back within days or be sanctioned.

    However, speaking during the 7th Okpekpe 10km International Road Race held in Edo State on Saturday, Dalung wondered why the athletics body only raised the alarm two months after the said error.

    “I think Nigeria has been unfairly treated because the issue has been painted and promoted as if there was any wrongdoing on the side of Nigeria, certainly not. Grants were released to Nigeria on the 17th of May, 2017 and on the 19th of May, IAAF confirmed the transaction. Just for IAAF after two months to turn round and cry foul that there is a mistake. I mean a transaction that was done and confirmed suddenly turned mistake. I smell a rat in the whole thing and I believe that the whole thing is being orchestrated just to blackmail Nigeria.

    “When did they realise they made mistake after the transaction was confirmed. I made a mistake in transferring money, I realised in ten minutes and I call my bank to retrieve the money. Why did it take IAAF two months to realise the mistake, an international organisation, highly reputable.

    I think it is not about money erroneously accredited to Nigeria, but there is calculated attempt just to demean and destroy Nigerian athletics. Otherwise, I don’t see why they call it a mistake.

    We didn’t apply for grants.”

    Asked what would the country do to avoid the ban, Dalung replied, “Ban us for what, ban Nigeria for what? What has Nigeria done? What is the crime?

    Did we steal any money from them? Did we ask them to transfer money to us? They transferred money to us, they confirmed the transfer and then after two months, they woke up from slumber. Is IAAF telling us they are much disorganised as that. Where Nigeria is wrong, Nigeria will own up but you cannot just wake up and realise they have something to hold onto.

  • Let’s go dancing with Dalung

    Some war veterans? Not quite. Adherents of a traditional faith? Not really.

    Sport and Youth Development Minister Solomon Dalung (left), seen by many as a stranger on the sports turf, is playing the tough guy, leading a cultural festival dance in Jos. “If I can’t be a champion in sports, I can win big on my local arena,” he seems to be telling his numerous critics, who may not be eager to award him a passmark in sports, citing his many gaffes.

    Here is Dalung  with the cultural dancers during the NzemBerom cultural festival in Jos…at the weekend

    PHOTO: NAN

  • Okpekpe race organiser hails Dalung on NSF

    Okpekpe international 10km road race promoter, Mike Itemuagbor has congratulated the Honourable Minister for Sports, Solomon Dalung on the organisation of the 19th National Sports Festival which came to an end on Sunday.

    Itemuagbor says the Minister displayed uncommon courage to go ahead with the organisation of the event that suffered several postponements between 2014 and the most part of 2018.

    ”Congratulations for staging the 19th National Sports Festival after several postponements. I commend your courage and wisdom in reviving the only event that brings all Nigerians together. God bless you, ‘Itemuagbor said in a statement made available to journalists on Monday in Lagos.

    The Okpekpe race organiser is not unaware that events are becoming larger and somewhat more costly in terms of resources required to host them but the inherent advantages in terms of the development of athletes and the unity it engenders must have informed Dalung’s decision to brave all the financial odds.

    ‘This is why I am particularly happy the Honourable Minister spared no expense to make sure the event held and the greatest beneficiary is not just the athletes and the officials but Nigeria. This is particularly more so when religion and ethnicity are being used to divide us daily as a nation.

    ‘I am sure the athletes who were given the opportunity to compete and show how far they have gone in terms of their preparation will always be thankful to the Honourable Minister.’

    Itemuagbor is also delighted that Edo state has been chosen as the host of the 20th edition of the event.

    ‘Everybody knows Edo state is synonymous with sports and I am certain our sports-loving Governor, Mr Godwin Obaseki will deliver a National Sports Festival that will serve as the benchmark for future editions.’

  • Minister condemns Plateau Crisis, reiterates call for State of Emergency

    The Minister of Youth and Sports Development, Mr Solomon Dalung, on Wednesday condemned the renewed killing of innocent citizens in parts of Plateau, and reiterated the call for the declaration of a state of emergency in the area.

    Dalung told State House correspondents in Abuja that the resurgence of killings in the state was shameful.

    According to him, the declaration of a state of emergency in the area will put a stop to the unwarranted killing of people.

    The minister, who is an indigene of Plateau, however, said that when imposed, state of emergency should not involve the disruption of the democratic structure in the state.

    “I’m not happy with the resurfacing of killing in Jos considering the fact that I personally played a major role in the restoration of relative peace in the state.

    “Gov. Simon Lalong as the leader of the people must summon joint security meeting involving all stakeholders in the state to deliberate on the current insecurity in Plateau state.

    “It is also imperative for President Buhari to immediate declare state of emergency by way of deploying military personnel to the troubled local government areas in the state to check the unfortunate incident,’’ he said.

    He frowned at those apportioning blame on the federal government over the persistent crisis in the Plateau, saying that President Buhari had taken various security measures aimed at addressing the problem.

    The minister, therefore, against politicizing the killing of innocent Nigerians as the federal government was doing all it could to bring the perpetrators of the heinous crime to book.

    He added that Nigeria needed peace and stability for the country to progress and achieve meaningful development.

    Dalung, who narrated the achievements of the Buhari administration in the past  three years, expressed optimism that the President, the sole presidential aspirant of the All Progressives Congress (APC), would record landslide victory in the  2019 election.

    He said that President Buhari’s major fault which had continued to attract criticism from his opponents was his ability to expose wrong doings in all spheres of the nation’s socio-economic sector. (NAN)

  • Dalung, Mamman-Daura, Okah-Donli to speak at FAME Conference

    A gender-based Non-Governmental Organisation, FAME Foundation will on Saturday, September 29 hold a conference on human trafficking and social/political emancipation of women.

    In a release issued by organisers of the event themed, ‘Liberate, Educate, Vitalize’, the panelists and speakers will deliberate on ways to reduce or completely eradicate human trafficking, as well as discuss the need for women to continue to make meaningful impact in the socio-political and economic  emancipation of the country without restrictions.

    Director General of the National Agency for the Prohibition of Trafficking in Persons (NAPTIP), Dame Julie Okah-Donli, Minister of Sports & Youths Development, Solomon Dalung and Halima Mamman-Daura, among others dignitaries are expected at the event.

    Founder of FAME Foundation, Ms Aderonke Bello said, “topics for the conference were timely, considering the issues of migration to dangerous parts of the world where women are abused with impunity and little or non-existent human rights.

    “There is a compelling need for women to be better coordinated in order to be better appreciated in the society most especially as the 2019 general elections draw near,” She said.

    Venue of the one-day annual conference is the Cinema Hall, Cyprian Ekwensi Arts and Culture Centre, in Abuja.

     

     

  • Dalung seeks state of emergency in Plateau, Benue, Zamfara, Taraba

    The Minister of Sports, Solomon Dalung, on Friday called for State of Emergency in his home state, Plateau State and other troubled states in the country.

    This move, according to him, will check the persistent killing of innocent people in the affected states.

    He spoke with State House  correspondents at the Presidential Villa, Abuja.

    The Minister also condemned the renewed killing of people in some local government areas of Plateau in the past few days.

    He maintained that it has become a matter of necessity for President Muhammadu Buhari to impose state of emergency in Plateau, Benue, Zamfara and Taraba to stop the killings.

    He faulted those blaming the federal government over the persistent crisis in Plateau State.

    According to him, Plateau state and the local government authorities should be held responsible for the problem.

    The `collapse’ of local government administration, he noted, had contributed immensely to the inability of the security personnel to arrest the problems.

    He said “The Plateau crisis can be traced to many years of inaction by previous and current administrations in Plateau state despite the Federal Government’s efforts to address the problem.

    “It is disheartening that Plateau state has been witnessing killings of innocent citizens in the last four to five days and this is very annoying and disturbing to the government and inhabitants of the state.

    “I alerted the Federal Executive Council on Sept. 5 on the need to take drastic and emergency measures to tackle the crisis because the local and state governments have failed in their responsibility of offering useful information to security agents despite the huge resources being spent on security.

    “It has therefore become imperative for the federal government to declare state of emergency in Plateau and other troubled states across the country so as to put a stop to the killings,’’ he said.

    Warning that nobody should politicize the killing of innocent Nigerians, he said that the federal government was doing all it could to bring the perpetrators of the heinous crime to book.

    The government, according to him, had already put in place measures to check cases of insecurity, stressing that Nigeria needed peace and stability for the country to progress and achieve meaningful development.

    “But security personnel alone cannot achieve much in addressing the problem without the support and cooperation of the state and local governments as well as the local communities

    “There is the need for collaboration between all the three tiers of government, the local communities and Youth Councils in order to find a lasting solution to the crisis,” he said.

    He identified lack of strong and dedicated leadership at both local and state levels as main factor responsible for the inability of the combined efforts of the security personnel to check the killings in Plateau, Benue, Taraba, Zamfara and other troubled states.

    He also sought for the re-reintroduction of Crises Resolution Committee at the local government level.

    The committee’s membership, he said, should be drawn from religious bodies, traditional institution, Cattle Breeders’ Association, farmers’ organisations, women and youth organisations.

    On the chances of the All Progressives Congress (APC) winning the 2019 presidential election, Dalung said the party’s presidential candidate, Buhari, had no serious challenger from the opposition parties.

    According to the minister, no Nigerian politician in recent history is as popular and admirable as President Buhari, saying that the president has millions of votes already guaranteed him by his `traditional and die-hard’ supporters come Feb. 2019.

    He dismissed the insinuation that President Buhari was desperate for power, saying that the president was only interested in addressing the nation’s socio-economic challenges for the general good of the country

  • Dalung and parable of the dog’s big buttocks

    The meat of today’s discourse reminds one of the parable of the dog and his buttocks. An old Igbo fairytale tells about the dog who once upon a time, was so depressed because as he claimed, the gods bequeathed him with no buttocks at all.

    He was so envious of other animals with a generous endowment that he often grouched that if only he had a wholesome bum … that those who had a good helping of buttocks didn’t know how to sit; that he would have always seated like a king.

    This crass canine lament got so loud it reached the ears of the gods. Angered, they quickly remade Mr. Dog and imbued him with a handful of buttocks fit only for a dowager. Mr. Dog was so overjoyed that he strutted the jungle with such lilting swag of the backside that all the other animals would turn to see the new spectacle.

    Soon there was an emergency in the jungle and all the animals managed to flee to safety but dog was consumed – his buttocks encumbered him.

    The odious fight for the soul of Nigeria’s football in the last three years bears some similarities to this parable. The Federal Ministry of Youth and Sports is probably the most important ministry in the land. But like the dog that didn’t appreciate his peculiar endowment, the current minister (not unlike most others before him) seems not to have a grasp of the magnitude of the office he holds. Well, perhaps until he loses it.

    First, there are probably no fewer than 50 sports eligible for the Olympics Games. But our Honorable Minister, Solomon Dalong has effectively made himself minister in charge of football in the last three years. Dalong may well have created a Department for Chris Giwa Affairs.

    He has done little else in this great ministry than his negatively disruptive interventions in the Amaju Pinnick versus Chris Giwa squabble in inherited. But sports is such a huge affair and a thinking minister of sports will turn the country upside down in just twelve months in that office. But not so for Dalong; it is obvious by his utterances, that Dalong doesn’t quite have a hang of modern sports management. He seems to be still terribly fixated to government funding for sports. Here him:

    “FIFA cannot be right. They have not even appreciated what’s on the ground. Football is funded in Africa by governments which build infrastructure and pump in money. FIFA must therefore learn to treat the government partners with respect,” Dalong said in an interview.

    Sorry, like the dog that desired big buttocks, Dalong has it all twisted. Government needs not fund football or sports if the minister knew his onions.

    And the bigger question: What about the Youth component of his ministry?

     

  • Aug. 20 deadline FIFA snubs Dalung

    Fifa has rejected a proposed meeting with the Nigeria sports minister Solomon Dalung to discuss problems in the country’s football federation (NFF).

    It denied the request saying its “leadership, in fact, the Fifa president is indisposed during the proposed period.”

    Football’s world governing body has given Nigeria until  August 20 for Chris Giwa to vacate the NFF offices.

    Giwa however is showing no signs giving up on his claims to be president.

    His lawyer Ardzard Habilla insists Fifa cannot ban Nigeria as it needs to be sorted out internally by the country’s judiciary.

    Habilla told journalists that the threat by Fifa was a calculated attempt to subvert the constitution of the country and an act of neo-colonialism.

    “Do we take it that Fifa laws are superior to the judgment of the highest court in our land — the Supreme Court, and has Fifa elevated itself before the constitution of Nigeria?” he questioned.

    “When we went to Court of Arbitration for Sports (CAS), it said that the issue before it is not the validity of the election, and that it is the domestic law of Nigeria that should determine the validity of an election or elections.

    “Fifa is bound by the decision of CAS and that is why the Giwa-led board went to court to determine the validity of those elections.”.

    A recent court case recognised Giwa, who is currently serving five-year ban by Fifa, as the NFF president.

    Giwa has been protesting the result of elections held in September 2014 that saw Pinnick installed as NFF president.

    Fifa also pointed out that Giwa was part of the proposed delegation and that he is serving a “five-year ban from taking part in any kind of football-related activity.”