General Election is not About Political Parties – Dalung

The former Minister of Youths and Sports Development, Solomon Dalung, has said the 2023 general election is not about political parties, but the quality of candidates.  

Dalung who is contesting on the platform of the Social Democratic Party (SDP) candidate for Langtang North/Langtang South Federal Constituency, stated this on Tuesday in Jos when he interacted with newsmen.

The former minister claimed that Nigerians were more politically savvy than in the past and that their concerns in the current political environment focused on the candidates’ qualifications rather than their political affiliations.

“Don’t be deceived, Nigerians are not going to elect parties, Nigerians are going to elect individuals.

“It is going to be a rainbow coalition in 2023, and it was the rainbow coalition that saved South Africa because it ended apartheid.

“In 2023 Nigerians with their votes will build a rainbow coalition that will end these political failures, and political gangsters and set the foundation of a new nation.

“A nation where people from different political backgrounds, different ideologies, different religions, different ethnicities will come together, and build a better country for Nigeria,” he stated.

The former minister claimed that his best chance of surviving the general election in 2023 was to perform well as an elected official.

“For a candidate that has not been elected before, it is going to be his character, his integrity and past antecedents that will give him an edge.

“It is not going be how long a politician has been in government but what it has been able to achieve during that period,” he said.

He noted that the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) was in government for 16 years, but it was defeated in 2015 by the All Progressives Congress (APC).

“So it’s not a guarantee for any non-performing elected person to stand on the high ground of structures or the number of years in office,” he added.