THOSE WHO LIVE IN GLASS HOUSES…
Jonathan Abang Ugbal argues that Solomon Dalung’s depiction of his successor in office as a misfit is unfortunate
Solomon Dalung, the former Minister of Youth and Sports, has spared no effort to whitewash his unenviable legacy. It is a consuming passion that he is beholden to because he erroneously believes that painting his predecessors in office in bad light will lead to his own redemption.
His scathing attacks on Sunday Dare, his immediate predecessor and most recently on the incumbent Minister of Sports Development, Senator John Owan Enoh, are critical strategies from his infamous playbook.
It is no surprise that Dalung is wielding with relish, the sledge hammer handed over to him by the shambolic performance of Team Nigeria at the just concluded Paris Olympic Games to swing at the current Minister of Sports Development, Senator Enoh who at any rate, has taken full responsibility for this poor outing and promised a thorough and comprehensive review of our dreadful performance at the Olympics to forestall future occurrence.
Dalung is spewing insults and casting aspersions on the Minister in the false hope that the disastrous performance of Team Nigeria will somehow mitigate his own failings as Sports Minister. In other words, rather than fair comment from the standpoint of patriotism and as one who once occupied such an exalted office, the former minister sees his redemption in what has become a national failure. But by drawing from his playbook of bluster, insults, and vile propaganda in his attempt to take down the current minister, the former has albeit invariably invited a closer interrogation of his own tenure in office. After all ,he who comes to equity must, as a necessity, come with clean hands. Dalung’s depiction of the current minister as a misfit and a stranger to sports is most unfortunate but immediately calls attention to his own pedigree when he was appointed a minister by Buhari in 2015. Before his appointment, he was a Legal Officer 11 with the Correctional Services with zero experience in sports administration.
As minister, Dalung’s many gaffes was a source of constant embarrassment. At a news conference, he referred to Nigeria as the ” United States of Nigeria,” followed with other unprintable during his budget defence before the House of Representatives Committee in 2016.
Lest we forget, it was during his tenure that Nigeria was subjected to international ridicule by failing successively to qualify for Nations Cup, and in both the 2016 and 2018 editions, Nigeria was absent. In the 2016 Olympics, Nigeria got a bronze in football, which he can’t even claim, with Mikel Obi coming out recently to state that he provided funding for the flight tickets of the team. But for Mikel Obi’s intervention, it’s not in error to say the teams’ chances of playing at the Olympics would have been jeopardised. This is testimony to the kind of leadership Dalung provided.
That’s not all, as minister he neither paid the camp and competition allowances nor the winning bonuses to the Dream Team IV (Under23), the team that won the nation its only Olympic medal (bronze). At the moment, Senator John Owan Enoh, the sports minister, is currently treating and pushing for the payment of these bonuses .
Records show that Senator Enoh has been transparent, detailed, and up to date in payments of allowances , bonuses and grants to athletes since he assumed office. Now, it is his responsibility to clear debts owed under Dalung’s watch as Minister of Youths and Sports. His often touted democratisation of sports federations under his watch was a ruse, an unmitigated disaster which unleashed crisis on the Athletics Federation of Nigeria (AFN). The raging inferno he ignited resulted in in-fighting, chaos, and endless power tussle.
During his tenure, the National Stadium, Lagos, the Moshood Abiola National Stadium, Abuja, Obafemi Awolowo Stadium, Ibadan became national monuments of decay and shame. By the time Dalung was leaving office after four years, his boast to reawaken ‘the dry bones in the sporting facilities owned by the federal government laid in ruins, a befitting epitaph for a man who promised so much and yet delivered so little.
Under his watch, the International Athletics Associations Federation mistakenly transferred $135,000 to the Athletics Federation of Nigeria (AFN). The ratification of this simple error became marred in recriminations as Dalung failed to deal with the issue decisively and instead resorted to blame game. He reneged on his initial promise to pay 50 per cent of the money in order to stop the world body, slamming a ban on the country, thereby fuelling the crisis even further. After four uneventful years, Dalung’s unenviable legacy has already been settled. However, I am yet to understand how launching a withering attack on the current minister of sports will help his cause.
The current minister is just a year in office, but his progressive imprint is already beginning to be felt. In addition to sustaining private sector driven initiatives that he inherited, he has equally initiated a raft of progressive reforms of his own with grassroots sports development, infrastructure maintenance and upgrade, welfare of retired and active sports men and women and the rejuvenation of school sports as some of the highlights of his reforms.
Under the current minister, the concessioning of the National Stadium, Lagos, which he inherited is almost completed with the memo to FEC for final approval already signed off. How well he implements his W.A.I.F.A R policy and the enduring impact it makes in ushering in the transformation of Nigeria’s sports sector.
There is no doubt that Nigeria’s abysmal outing at the Olympics has cast a pall and overshadowed the ongoing silent revolution in the sports sector but the truth is that rather than dwell in agony over this disappointment, Nigerians should support the minister’s plan to carry out a thorough and comprehensive review of our outing to forestall future occurrence.
Ugbal writes from Mbube, Cross River State
