Dalung Blames In-fighting in APC on 2019 Race

The Minister of Sport and Youth Development, Solomon Dalung, has said that the current crisis rocking the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC), is largely about the ambition of some politicians for future offices.

He said the problems inherited by the party made it impossible for leaders to pay attention to party members, leading to frustration.

According to Premium Times report, the minister said this yesterday, while speaking to journalists at the national secretariat of the APC in Abuja.
“I think we should try and appreciate the chemistry of what is referred to as APC today. APC started as amalgamation of different political groups then graduated into a mass movement and formed the government,” Mr. Dalung said.

“The significance of this was that these are political systems that are an embodiment of diverse interests.
“Now, the management of that interests is very critical, but the challenge the party and the government is facing is that the government itself inherited a situation where it has more challenges of fixing the country, and so nothing or no good attention at all would have trickled down along the line in view of the economic constraints.

“That is enough to stir bitterness in the party and this can give birth to crisis,” he said.
The APC is currently in crisis after one of is leaders and a former Lagos governor, Bola Tinubu, asked the national chairman, John Odigie-Oyegun, to resign.

Mr. Tinubu accused Mr. Odigie-Oyegun of going behind the back of members of the National Working Committee to nominate Rotimi Akeredolu as the candidate of the party for the forthcoming governorship election in Ondo state.
An Appeal Committee of the party had recommended that fresh primary election for Ondo State should be conducted after the exercise that produced Mr. Akeredolu was allegedly rigged.

Mr. Odigie-Oyegun has refused to resign and told Mr. Tinubu that he cannot use the media to remove him.
Mr. Dalung called on the leaders to forget their differences and allow the country to move forward.
He said the crisis was about the ambitious plans of politicians ahead of the next round of elections.

“The second perspective to the crisis has to do with the future; a politician is a very ambitious person. In everything he does including the step of his movement, he calculates ahead of time.
“So, It could also be that some politicians had viewed the future and they are already dusting their weapons for a political showdown to set the tone of their political ambition,” he said.

Mr. Dalung said those in government were worried over the development.
“There is no reasonable person in government that won’t be worried, because the unity of the party is the unity of the government,” he said.

“So we are concerned, our position is just to appeal because all those that are involved in the crisis are our leaders and we respect them very much as young people.
“What we expect from them is to bequeath durable legacies and I don’t think that crisis is part of what they intend to bequeath to us,” he said.
Mr. Dalung said APC leaders should know that younger politicians look up to the leaders for guidance.