Dalung, the ranting of a failed minister

BY YAHAYA ETILA

Former Sports Minister, Solomon Dalung, has assigned himself the role of an aggressor against his successor, Sunday Dare, with his barrage of unwarranted and unbridled attacks. Dalung’s often ill-timed unwholesome attacks on Sunday Dare is laced with irony. How can a man who was a monumental failure vilify a man who has been bold in correcting all the ills of his predecessor? How can one explain the vituperation of one who was a monumental failure and the one who is one of the shining lights of the Buhari administration? Why has it become fashionable for failure like Dalung to attack someone who is making impact where he failed?

Dalung took his hateful antics to an all-time low when he recently endorsed the illegal contraption staged by the disgraced former President of the Athletics Federation of Nigeria (AFN), Ibrahim Gusau, in Birnin Kebbi. This is totally at variance with the spirit of laid down rules, party loyalty and camaraderie that bound people of same party and government. This is not counting on the legal perspective that anticipated that a serving minister will inaugurate the AFN board as opposed to the charade that Dalung rented himself out for by swearing-in Gusau’s product of illegality in Birnin Kebbi.

Dalung is yet to reconcile himself with the fact that his time is over. He is no longer in power and cannot ridicule the institution that gave him a taste of power, glory and fame.

Since he was kicked out after boasting that no one born of a woman could remove him from office, Dalung has gone sociopathic, faulting the giant strides of the incumbent Sunday Dare who to all discerning minds is light years ahead of him in vision, mission and litany of achievements.

Like a drowning man, Dalung has been clawing at every available straw to reinvent his failed stewardship. While in the saddle, he was known more for his gaffes, administrative incompetence and policy somersaults than for bringing any value to the Ministry.

There were raging infernos in AFN, Rugby Federation and Boxing Federation ignited by Dalung, which Dare has quenched. Belligerent Dalung gave the tragic directive that the federations should be independent and then imposed his cohorts on some federations, which resulted in stalemates, in-fighting, chaos, and bickering. He left a lot of mess, which Dare has been cleaning up since assuming leadership of the Ministry. The festering crisis in AFN is Dalung’s last ditch effort to cover the scandal he orchestrated with Gusau through the Puma kits sponsorship scandal for which Gusau has now on trial for criminal breach of trust.

This scandal is one of the sore points of Dalung’s stewardship which he seeks to bury by supporting Gusau.

How do you justify those Federations that still operate under existent legislation going it alone without recourse to due process? How does one expect federations that still depend on Government subvention and Facilities provided by government to become self-sustaining without providing options?

As Dalung continues to seek relevance by sustaining his campaign of calumny against Dare who is clearing the mess he left behind, his ferocious attack amounts to self-condemnation.

While Dalung failed abysmally to give direction to the Ministry, Dare is clearing the landmines he laid while he held sway in the Ministry.

Given his penchant for self-delusion and egoism, Dalung ought to bury his head in shame because Dare is not only threading where he failed, but making significant impacts in all ramifications.

During his tenure, Dalung had watched hopelessly as the National Stadium in Lagos, the Moshood Abiola National Stadium, Abuja, Obafemi Awolowo Stadium, Ibadan got dilapidated. He could not muster the resources for mere routine maintenance. Today, these national landmarks are on a rebound as Dare has mustered private support to fix the facilities. Rather than commend these achievements, Dalung plays the ostrich by taking jabs at Dare, who has been hailed as the most inventive, committed and pragmatic Sports Minister in recent time.

For years, there was no clear cut direction for Youth Development until Dare raised a memo that secured the Federal Executive Council’s approval for the Nigeria Youth Investment Fund (NYIF), which has given new direction to the innovative idea of youth through a ring fenced loan. There are whole lot of other youth oriented initiatives that Dalung was possibly too stoned from drinks to think up. Dalung could not have given the youth DEEL (Digital skills acquisition, Employability, Entrepreneurship and Leadership) NOYA (Nigeria Online Youth Assembly) and other clear cut projects that defines Dare’s performance. Sadly, Dalung had no such legacies but massive failure.

It was under Dalung that Nigeria was subjected to International ridicule by failing to successively qualify for the Nations Cup, performed woefully at the Olympics and age group competitions which are the strongest of our National teams.

Each time Dalung speaks or unleashes his attack dogs on Dare, one deduces illogical arguments, outright lies, bile, vendetta, venom and desperate attempts to mislead the public.

While he presided over Nigerian Sports, Dalung could not think outside the box, hence he assumed the best option was to offload the Federations to people who lacked the ability to convince anyone to invest in sports. No wonder, he was always the butt of joke as the Minister who lacked creativity, innovation or agenda.

Indeed, his combative approach repeatedly repelled sponsorship, partnership and stagnated our Youth and sports Development. He made more headlines with his attire and beret cap than the substance of any attainments.

Dare’s innovative idea has resulted in the Adopt Programme, Adopt an Athlete and Adopt a Pitch, which is creating multiple impacts in the sports industry. The reclassification of Sports from mere recreation to business is creating alot of excitement to the chagrin of Dalung who lacked the intelectual capacity to think up such idea.

Part of Dalung’s problem is that he perceives Dare as the enemy who took his job. Had Dalung fared well, the President could have retained him as Minister. His tenure was a clog in the wheels of Nigeria’s Sports Development. He is not just afflicted by out of office syndrome, but infected by failed stewardship aggression. No wonder, he keeps speaking without substance.

When the history of the Ministry of Youth and Sports Development is written, there would be a clear dichotomy in the telling of the legacies of Dalung and Dare. It would be a narration between the one that persisted and dwelled on mere rhetorical errors and the one with enduring legacy clearly etched in the sands of time.