Dalung to Buhari: “Your greatest predicament is misplacement of trust and confidence.”
By Emma Ogbuehi
As foreign media organisations continue to decry President Muhammadu Buhari’s alleged poor leadership qualities which have driven Nigeria into a ditch, it seems Nigerians are also beginning to find their voice in criticising the president.
The Economist magazine had recently described the government of President Buhari as inept and high-handed, adding that he had also failed to tackle corruption.
The 178-year-old British magazine said this in an editorial titled, ‘The Crime Scene at the Heart of Africa,’ which was published in its October 23, 2021, edition.
Before then, the U.S. based Wall Street Journal reported that the Nigerian Government had paid the sum of N20 million to a bandit leader to secure a 12.7 calibre antiaircraft gun as President Buhari prepared to fly to his hometown of Daura in Katsina State.
The journal claimed in the Saturday, October 16 report that the kidnapping gang encamped in Nigeria’s Rugu forest had “seized an antiaircraft gun in a clash with a military unit. That posed a threat to President Muhammadu Buhari, who had been planning to fly to his hometown about 80 miles away, and the government needed to buy it back.”
While the Federal Government has pushed back on the two reports, former Sports Minister, Solomon Dalung, on Friday said Buhari has been overwhelmed by the challenges of leadership while highlighting what he described as his major problems.
Dalung, in a post on his verified Facebook page, urged Buhari to act swiftly to rescue his legacy from being banished into the trash bin.
He added that Nigeria under the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) is deteriorating speedily.
Dalung, who served as a minister under Buhari from 2015 to 2019, described the regime as a failure.
Dalung said, “I love you the Daura born General, anti-corruption Czar, but Nigeria is deteriorating speedily into comatose. You need to act swiftly to rescue your legacy from being banished into the trash bin. I cannot betray my loyalty to you under the canopy of silence when the occasion demands standing on the side of truth and justice. We owe you and posterity the burden of accountability where we stand in the face of all these things.”
Dalung who hails from Plateau said, however, said the president means well.
“You meant well for the country but it’s not enough to have the integrity to move a multicultural society like ours forward. I don’t envy you because even though you have not changed, you have not been able to change your environment because you operate on parallel lanes with those who should have translated your virtues of integrity into a common good.
“Your greatest predicament is misplacement of trust and confidence, because once you trust you hardly distrust. Therefore, all that is required to beguile your leadership is to manipulate these antics against your charisma. If everybody is honestly doing his own part of the responsibility, the furore about your personality would have not existed in the first place. Since you depend on them to govern, their stories are your truth which is the opposite of the reality on the ground.
Dalung said his former principal has been overwhelmed by the challenges of leadership.
“You have been overwhelmed by challenges of leadership and desperately desire assistance but unfortunately you are a victim of noble intentions surrounded by overzealous elements patronising agenda contrary to your mandate. I can feel your inner person revolting against all these but of course, it cannot exonerate you from responsibility because the bulk ends on your table.
“Now that you are in the Holy Land and will be performing lesser hajj, may God who know your heart grant our common prayers for radical changes that will be fair to your legacy. You occupy a space in my daily prayers because I know you meant well for Nigeria but I cannot understand how we got here. All I can do for now is to keep praying for things to be better,” Dalung concluded.
