How Buhari’s visit renewed Lalong, Dalung rivalry

President Muhammadu Buhari’s recent visit to Plateau State renewed a long suspected rivalry and distrust between Plateau State Governor Simon Bako Lalong and the Minister of Youths and Sports Development, Barrister Solomn Dalung. Just when Governor Simon Bako Lalong was basking in the euphoria of a successful visit by President Muhammadu Buhari to his state, […]

President Muhammadu Buhari’s recent visit to Plateau State renewed a long suspected rivalry and distrust between Plateau State Governor Simon Bako Lalong and the Minister of Youths and Sports Development, Barrister Solomn Dalung.

Just when Governor Simon Bako Lalong was basking in the euphoria of a successful visit by President Muhammadu Buhari to his state, the Minister of Youths and Sports Development, Barrister Solomon Dalung went all out to spoil the mood. The minister had launched an attack on Lalong by writing a lengthy statement on his weekly Facebook Sunday column. He called out Lalong for not according him and other dignitaries the proper recognition during the visit and for renaming a street he claimed was already named after General Yakubu Gawon in Buhari’s honour.

Barrister Dalung had made other weighty allegations, accusing Lalong of plunging the state into heavy debt nearing N1 trillion as well misleading the president on the actual status of the road projects inherited and completed by him. He said the state had procured a loan of $2 billion which amounted to N720 billion from the African Development Bank for a potatoe processing factory but had nothing to show for it.

In the face of other allegations, Dalung claimed bill boards erected by him at strategic places were brought down at Lalong’s directive and further noted that his supporters wearing T-shirts with his portrait were systematically isolated and prevented from assessing areas of activity during the president’s visit. While Dalung had the right to air his presumed grievances, many described the last complaint as childish but also noted that Dalung should have been accorded the respect to speak at a town hall meeting during the president’s visit.

The Plateau State Commissioner for Information and Communication, Hon. Yakubu Dati, deflated most of the serious allegations, explaining that the Yakubu Gawon way still exists and only stretches from the Plateau Specialist Hospital Roundabout to Ta’en Junction while the new Muhammadu Buhari Way starts from Ta’en Junction to Mararaban Jama’a Roundabout.

Dati said the alleged $2billion loan from the AFDB was only $11.2 million which Daily Trust checks revealed is visible at the AFDB website. But even with many rushing to Lalong’s defence and accusing Dalung of eyeing Lalong’s seat, the main opposition People’s Democratic Party (PDP) did not only enjoy the drama but claimed that the internal squabbles within the APC and Dalung’s allegations had vindicated their assertion on mismanagement of scarce resources.

Most of Lalong’s supporters linked Dalung’s allegations to an attempt to settle a personal score even though Dalung himself has denied this, saying he was only speaking the mind of Plateau citizens. But for those who followed the president’s visit carefully, Lalong and Dalung seemed chummy at the airport shortly before Buhari’s plane landed. However, signs that Dalung was going to stir up the hornet’s nest began to manifest on Friday morning shortly before President Buhari commissioned 400 tractors at the Government House Little Rayfiled. Instead of being present at the event, the minister rushed to a local radio station to lay the ground for his attack and even poked holes at the Plateau roadmap to peace document launched by Buhari a night before. He also emphasised that two of the three roads commissioned by the president were projects of the PDP and went ahead to add that road projects were to him not an achievement.

The following day, the minister returned to the radio station to make further allegations but those close to the governor said Lalong ignored his antics. It was however Dalung’s Sunday morning Facebook post that irked Lalong’s team as a jest taken too far, compelling them to pounce on him.

The state APC chairman, Lateb Dabang also stepped into the ring, calling Dalung a man whose knowledge of the streets and happenings in the state was embarrassing.

But Dalung  hit back with a banter, saying, “I can understand the problem confronting my friend and brother Lateb Dabang, his mentor (referring to Atiku Abubakar) has left the party, so things are falling apart, the centre can no longer hold. Also, having been made to believe that you were going to be appointed minister and you lost why wouldn’t you call me a mad man? Take heart, if God so desires you will be one day.”

For Lalong and Dalung, the tension that is threatening to set two of the most influential APC heavyweights against each other did not start today. A rift had existed between the governor and the minister when in 2014 Lalong defeated Dalung to emerge the APC governorship candidate.

The rivalry between the two politicians continued when Buhari singlehandedly picked his ministers without consulting the governors or the ruling party. This angered the APC in Plateau, especially since Lalong and Dalung are from the same southern zone and Dabang, the APC chairman was alleged to have already positioned himself for the slot. Even at that, Lalong never publicly showed any antagonism towards Dalung’s appointment and was said to have hosted an elaborate dinner to honour him.

But soon after he became minister, Dalung  tested Lalong’s patience in late 2015 when almost at the end of a cultural festival in Lalong’s home of Shendam, the minister was said to have stepped into the arena with the usual security paraphernalia disrupting the occasion. Despite a breach of protocol and an almost clash between their supporters, Lalong, sources said, remained calm.

Dalung was to later deny that particular incident, saying any insinuation of a rivalry between him and Lalong was imaginary even though Lalong’s team remained mute.

With the tussle now clearly visible, pundits say apart from a presumed 2019 political calculation, there exist a power struggle to get President Buhari’s attention, especially when the president is said to be very comfortable with Lalong whose humility and inclusive government continues to endear him to Aso Rock.

Dalung on the other hand has never been afraid to speak his mind on issues and had played a major role in putting the government of former governor Jonah Jang on its toes. But the question many now ask is why he is coming for Lalong now. A political analyst in Jos, Ado Musa, told Daily Trust that with growing speculations that Buhari may dissolve his cabinet and allow state governors to nominate ministers from their states, Dalung may be aware that his days are numbered.

“He knows he is not in good terms with his governor and the party in his state, so he is unlikely to return to the Federal Executive Council. For him, this is the time to come all out to fight Lalong because he has nothing to lose and he obviously wants to occupy the Government House,” he said.

If Dalung indeed wants to be governor, he has but one chance to upstage Lalong in 2019 or he would have to wait till 2039 when the zoning arrangement will return the baton to the southern zone. But he could still remain politically relevant if he were to set his gaze on the senate seat for the southern senatorial district instead. With Sen. Jeremiah Useni’s letter to Hon. Timothy Golu officially expressing his intention to contest the governorship seat under the PDP, Dalung, many say, could have positioned himself to secure his party’s senatorial ticket instead of choosing this time to pick a fight.