The Minister of Youth and Sports Development, Barr. Solomon Dalung, Thursday recounted how he faced rejection from many personalities in sports administration and how such acts of hostility frustrated his early days as minister.
Dalung, who spoke in Yola, the Adamawa State capital, said, “I was not welcome as minister of youths and sports. This was because members of the sports family were suspicious of me, especially as I was always wearing khaki and even topping it with beret. Many wondered what was happening to sports, and many took steps to paint me in dark colours.”
He added, “There were those who believed that I would not last more than two months. People in that cast proceeded to organise a sort of sendoff for me. They could not stop wondering why President Muhammadu Buhari would appoint as minister of sports a man they felt had no business with sports.”
Dalung, who made the recall at the 2018 Nigeria Olympic Committee (NOC) elective meeting which took place at the Banquet Hall of Government House, Yola, said he succeeded in getting down to meaningful work eventually because he was focused and he had some people who actually believed in him.
He said, “The acts of animosity slowed my takeoff as minister. But I made up my mind to be focused in doing that which I was appointed to do. It is not right to judge people by preconceived ideas the way they did about me. But the NOC president was different. He was humble and he came close to me. Gumel was one of the few who helped my stabilisation as minister.”
The NOC President, Habu Gumel, was Dalung’s chief host at the Yola NOC’s elective meeting, where preparation was being made to elect new officials when this report was filed Thursday night.
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