Nigerian former Minister of Youth and Sports, Solomon Dalung, has said the ruling All Progressives (APC) has failed the country and its citizens.
Dalung, speaking in an interview with the Hausa section of the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC), said the APC and President Muhammadu Buhari-led government has not fulfilled its promises to Nigerians.
He admitted despite being a member of the ruling party, it is his responsibility to speak out if things are not right.
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The former minister, while lamenting the high rate of insecurity in the north, said the situation is such that people fast and pray for days before embarking on a journey.
He disclosed that farmers had to pay gunmen before going to the farm adding that nobody had ever experienced this kind of situation.
“In the north, if you are a Muslim and you want to travel, you must pray, fast for days before embarking on the journey. If you are Christian and you want to travel, you must fast and pray for days before you travel,” she said.
“Even if the journey is successful, you will still go to the hospital because of high blood pressure arising from fear during the journey. We have never experienced this kind of situation. Imagine in the north, before you go to your farm, you will have to pay gunmen to allow you farm. If you want to harvest your farm produced, you will still have to pay gunmen before they allow you to harvest.
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“So how can there be farming in the North? We have never experienced this kind of situation. It is our APC government, but this government has not address the needs of Nigerians. It is our government, but if we are not doing the correct thing, it is our responsibility to speak out because we spoke against some people in the past and we need to speak to ourselves too.”
The ex-minister said the failure of the APC government is so glaring that “everybody knows”.
Dalung said he was not afraid to speak out, insisting that even if he is the president he will still speak with if things are not going well.
“You know me and everybody in Nigeria knows me. Whether I am still a minister, even if I am the president, whatever I see that is not right, I must speak out, not because of myself, but in the interest of the generality of the people,” he said.
“If for example, Solomon Dalung collapses and die today, without speaking out against what is happening today, don’t you think God will question me for abusing Jonathan and for not speaking out on our failure? That is what I am afraid of, not anybody.
“Our party, the APC is like a dying party because, as I am talking to you right now, they have dissolved the party completely, it has no members, even the President is not a member.
“The caretaker committees are the members of the party, the party has no members because membership of everybody has been dissolved, so right now we are not members of APC until they bring membership cards for us to join the party, like army recruitment. So right now even the President is not a member of the APC until he appears before this committee.”
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