By Kolawole Ojebisi
A former Minister of Youths and Sports Development, Solomon Dalung, has expressed confidence that President Bola Tinubu will be roundly defeated in the 2027 general elections even if he appoints his son, Seyi, to preside over the exercise.
Dalung maintained that the recent defections of governors Umo Eno and Sheriff Oborevwori of Akwa-Ibom and Delta States respectively and other prominent politicans to the All Progressives Congress (APC) will not turn the outcomes of the 2027 election in Tinubu’s favour either.
The former minister made these assertions in an interview with Dailypost on Wednesday.
He premised his opinion on Tinubu’s purported anti-masses policies, adding that they have turned the current administration to the people’s enemy.
Dalung said, “You know there is an adage in Hausa that if animals will celebrate the death of a butcher, has the knife also died? If beneficiaries of the mandate of the people are defecting, have the people also defected? Let’s take the case of Delta before we come to Akwa-ibom. The person who defected is the governor whose mandate was very controversial.
“It was in the dying minute that the Supreme Court affirmed his election. The most popular candidate who lost at the Supreme Court was persuaded to support him because of party loyalty. So, if a beneficiary of such a manipulation has decided to defect, would the people follow him?”
He continued, “Now you can interpret the implication of that defection from the video of how people received the former Governor Ifeanyi Okowa in his ancestral home. Women conveyed the message of the community to him vehemently that he is on his own. And you know in the South-South and the South East, it was the women that set the agenda of independence for Nigeria with the Aba women’s riot of 1929. So you cannot ignore that significant political event that took place in his village.
“The women of the South-South had sent a very strong message to the sinners who have run into the sanctuary of forgiveness that they are on their own. So, nobody has defected, it’s the governor and his cabinet that have gone”.
The ex-minister added, “You go to Akwa Ibom, the man who brought the governor; did he defect with him to the APC? The answer is no. There are about 15 or so members of the House of Assembly that have refused to defect. Commissioners are turning in resignations one after the other.
“Before you defect, you consult the people and if they give you an endorsement, they will stand with you. But the governor did not even pretend in his defection speech, he was categorical. He said he had seen how Tinubu has performed and has decided to support him by defecting. So, that defection was not people-oriented or people-driven.”
According to Dalung, “there is no value added to Tinubu except that he has compounded the situation in his party and there will be an implosion”
“Let me tell you this, I’m not a prophet, even if all the 36 state governors defect to the APC and Seyi Tinubu is appointed as the chairman of INEC; Tinubu is going to slug it out with the masses because he is the only president who has drawn a battle line with the masses by weaponising hunger, poverty and hardship,” Dalung added.
