Cabals Shielded Buhari From Me Despite Long Political Ties, Says Dalung

Former Minister of Youth and Sports, Solomon Dalung, has alleged that he was deliberately prevented from seeing the late former President Muhammadu Buhari in the years leading to his death, despite their long political association.

Dalung, who served under Buhari’s administration from 2015 to 2019, made the revelation during an interview on Inside Sources with Laolu Akande on Channels Television on Sunday.

He said his frankness and insistence on holding Buhari accountable often made their conversations tense but honest.

“I didn’t fear Buhari. I looked at him straight in the face and would tell him anything I wanted to tell him. That’s because my hands are clean,” Dalung stated.

He recalled that Buhari once told him, “Solomon, I know you. You have a very toxic mouth that spares nobody. I want us to take an oath that you will not spare even I, Buhari.” Dalung added, “And I didn’t spare him when he was alive.”

The former minister said their last meeting became heated after he challenged Buhari over unfulfilled campaign promises.

“I took all the campaign promises and faced him. I then asked, ‘Which of these can you tell me in truth that we have been able to achieve?’ He couldn’t answer,” Dalung said.

He noted that Buhari later admitted to being unaware of the depth of the problems in his administration and urged him to keep visiting the Villa.

“That was the last time I saw him,” Dalung revealed. “Even when I left office, it was difficult for me to see him. The last time I saw him, he was very angry and kept asking why I was being blocked whenever I came to see him. He was very bitter.”

Dalung said although Buhari directed his aides to ensure he had unrestricted access, he was never able to see him again—not even after Buhari retired to Daura.

“Sometimes, when I got to the house, they would tell me he had gone to the farm despite informing them beforehand that I was coming,” he lamented.

On why he was not reappointed for Buhari’s second term, Dalung said the former president gave no direct reason but advised him to accept it as destiny.

“Buhari told me, ‘Please, be patient. You have done your best and served your country selflessly. But whatever would have happened, take it as an act of God,’” he recounted.

He added that he later discovered through Buhari’s aide-de-camp that his name was dropped during the ministerial screening process “for balance of certain interests.”

Dalung maintained that Buhari was personally fair to him but blamed what he described as “the system” for his exclusion and the subsequent efforts to isolate him from the former leader.