“To Be Returned To Office, Somebody From The Villa Asked Me For N100m” – Dalung Fmr. Minister

By Adesina Soyoye

A former Minister for Youths and Sports under the late President Muhammadu Buhari has opened the dirty deals which may have taken place under that Administration.

Dalung who was Minister between 2015 and 2019, but was not returned for a second term has revealed how, after he was removed as Minister, he was approached by somebody from the Villa who asked him to raise the sum of N100 million Naira, so as to be reappointed to office.

Dalung made this baffling revelation when he spoke

in an interview on Channels Television.

Neither revealing the name of the crook, nor the office he occupied in the Villa which gave him such powers, Dalung narrated that the person claimed  playing a role which contributed to his removal from office but now decided to facilitate his return if he provided the N100m. Dalung rejected the offer.

According to him, he rejected the offer on two grounds. First, he did not have such an amount of money. But more important than that was that even if he had that much, he would not seek public office through bribery.

Dalung; “When I couldn’t return to the office as a Minister, somebody walked from the Villa to my house and told me, ‘Look, we were responsible for getting you out of office because you don’t give us money, and now, with the benefit of hindsight, we want you back. We’re not going to take much from you. Raise ₦100 million for us, and we’ll be able to return you to your office.’ I thanked him very much for thinking that I’m worthy of returning to office with the payment of ₦100 million, and I told him I don’t have such money to give you. I

chose not to participate in any arrangement involving financial payments in exchange for political appointments.”

Dalung’s revelation comes on the heels of the scandal rocking the Presideny over untidy allegations made against the President’s Chief of Staff, Femi Gbajabiamila, by Prince Adeniyi Adeyemi Matthew, the Director General of the phantom Presidential Foreign Intervention Promotion Council. The Presidency, has however, dismissed Adeyemi as a certificated crook, and dragged him to Court.