Solomon Dalung, a Nigerian lawyer who served in the prison service and as the Minister of Youth and Sports under President Muhammadu Buhari administration has boldly admitted that he was one of those who misled Nigerians.
Solomon Dalung who after defecting from the ruling All Progressives Congress to Social Democratic Party (SPD) picked the Federal House of Representatives form of the party made this disclosure during an interview with Arise news.
During the interview, Solomon Dalung who was one of the Foundation members of the ruling All Progressives Congress condemned the Muslim-Muslim ticket which the party has chosen. According to him, he saw the development coming. He added that it was one of the things that influenced his conscience to exit the party.
He noted that when they founded the APC, the fundamental principles include unity and social justice for Nigerians. And their intention was to right the wrongs created by the sixteen years of the People’s Democratic Party’s administration.
He added that they also planned to create a society where freedom and liberty of Nigerians will be respected. And they were driven by the passion to sustain their diversity.
However, along the line, he discovered that justice was first sacrificed, and eventually ceased to be a concept within the context of the party’s operations, thus, he became apprehensive.
He also emphasized on his admittance that he and other members of the ruling All Progressives Congress misled Nigerians because what Nigerians are seeing today is not what the party actually promised them.
He said that by lying to Nigerians, the party misled them, and he is also guilty of it.
He recalled that about 7 years ago, the People’s Democratic Party threw shades at the APC, saying that the party is a Muslim-Muslim party. Speaking on this, Solomon Dalung said that it is sad that he is alive when the “prophecies” of the PDP about the APC are coming to pass.
He added that there is no way the party can now deny all the allegations leveled against them by the closest opposition party.
He also revealed that when he was in office, there was an attempt to sponsor a memo that has a religious content. He claimed that he vehemently opposed the memo and drew the attention of the president to it.
He also clarified that there was never an attempt to islamize Nigeria, however, there was an attempt by some unpatriotic elements to use religion to access power.
Speaking further, he said that the All Progressives Congress will lose the forthcoming presidential election as there is no reason for them to win because they have made it clear that they do not mean well for the country by choosing a Muslim-Muslim ticket.
According to him, the APC has done more harm than good to Nigeria, therefore, something needs to be done to right their wrongs.
While explaining what his new party, the Social Democratic Party is doing to correct the mistakes of the APC, Solomon Dalung said that they have been challenged by what the ruling party has done to work harder to provide a credible alternative to save the country.