Former Minister of Youth and Sports, Solomon Dalung, has admitted that the immediate-past Muhammadu Buhari-led administration deceived Nigerians during its eight-year tenure.
He made the revelation during an interview on the ‘Mic On Podcast’ with popular TV achor, Seun Okinboloye.
Dalung, a member of the Federal Executive Council (FEC) during Buhari’s first term in office between 2015 and 2019, stated that the administration lied to Nigerians.
According to him, “I am completely disappointed because what we told Nigerians was not what happened. We lied; we deceived Nigerians. Even though we used ‘people deceive people,’ referring to the PDP, for our campaign, we were a replica of what we accused the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) of.”
Dalung recounted how he confronted Buhari about the worsening state of insecurity and hardship in the country at the time.
“When we came in, it was just the North-East that had security issues. By 2020, it was not even possible to travel from Abuja to Kaduna. I told the president, ‘If you don’t believe me, roll out a brigade of guards now, and I’ll join you. We’ll drive from Abuja to Daura. If bandits don’t attack us, I’ll go and die in exile.
“To be fair to the president, he expressed surprise, meaning that some of the things I told him, he was hearing for the very first time,” Dalung added.
The former minister also revealed that Buhari was often unaware of significant incidents occurring under his administration.
Dalung narrated an incident where the Department of State Services (DSS) and the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) clashed in Asokoro District of Abuja, holding the community hostage for three days, without the president’s knowledge.
“It was me, during a Federal Executive Council (FEC) meeting, who informed him about the incident. I expected it to be on the agenda, but it wasn’t. I had to introduce it through AOB (Any Other Business), and the president was completely confused listening to what I was saying.
“At the end of the meeting, we even left without any closing prayer because he was visibly angry. On my way to the office, I saw those two agencies, directly under his office, holding a community hostage for three days over whatever interest they had, and the president didn’t know,” he recalled.