2027: Defectors don’t believe in Tinubu – Dalung

Former Minister of Youths and Sports Development, Solomon Dalung, believed that politicians moving from opposition parties into the ruling All Progressives Party (APC) as sinners seeking forgiveness.

Dalung who spoke in Abuja disagreed with the postulation that politicians were trooping into the APC because the ruling party has performed well, “rather they are sinners, who are seeking forgiveness for their numerous sins.”

Dalung said the defectors were only fulfilling what a former Governor of Edo State, Adams Oshiomhole said regarding corrupt politicians, that no matter the gravity of their sins, they will be forgiven as soon as he join APC.

Oshiomhole has severally denied this quote attributed to him but politicians have been using it.

He said, “These are people who have committed heinous crimes against the Nigerian people and they are jumping into the APC ship for the forgiveness of their sins. Not that they believe in Tinubu, no; they do not. They are only assembling so that their sins will be forgiven.

“So it is a conclave of political cardinals who have committed grave sins against the Nigerian people and a political party has offered them the opportunity of forgiveness on entrance,” he said.

The former minister also warned that if care is not taken, the defectors would create problems in the ruling party in the future.

He said: You know there is an adage in Hausa that if animals 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?

“So there is no value added to Tinubu except that he has compounded the situation in his party and there will be an implosion.”

He also dismissed concern in certain quarters that the entrance of politicians like the former Kaduna State Governor, Nasir El-Rufai into the Social Democratic Party (SDP) could be a potential threat to the presidential ambition of Prince Adewole Adebayo, the party’s 2023 presidential candidate, adding that “Adebayo’s political charisma, image and personality within the Nigerian political environment has presented him as an obvious force to deal with in 2027.”

He emphasized that Adebayo is the only presidential candidate who has consistently maintained a media campaign against the failed and unpopular policies of the current government.

“So, Nigerians are very conversant with Adebayo’s voice, charisma and leadership qualities. So, whether you mobilize the whole politicians into the SDP, you must resolve the question of Adebayo in the SDP as a presidential candidate before any other person.

“This is because nobody has promoted the SDP in Nigeria like Adebayo. After Chief MKO Abiola, you rank Adebayo in the contemporary SDP as the highest. So, the concern as some people are expressing is normal. Human beings entertain such fears but the reality is that the name SDP since 2023 has been sustained unilaterally by the doggedness, commitment, dedication and selflessness of Prince Adebayo.

“So, he is a force to beat in whatever political arrangement that the SDP will put on ground to produce a presidential candidate. He is a patriot who did not join politics for himself; he has surrendered the rest of his life to the service of humanity and he did that at his 50th birthday.”