Stop Attacking Sports Ministry, Amaju Pinnick Fires Back At Dalung

The President of the Nigerian Football Federation, Amaju Pinnick, has said that the Ministry of Sports and Youth development does not take Solomon Dalung’s opinion seriously on sporting issues.

The NFF boss said this as a reply to comments made by his former boss, Dalung, who claimed that it is a “crime to ask for accountability” in Nigerian sports.  

Dalung had claimed in an Arise Tv interview that the ministry is ‘very lucrative’, but the issue stifling its growth is the management of funds.

The former Sports Minister had claimed, “Sports is a very lucrative ministry, with divergent interests. If we manage our sport very well, sports will be next to NNPC.

“There is a lot of money in sports. It is this money in sports that is responsible for the crisis we are finding there. You know, any country that has so much natural resources, conflict is always there.”

But the NFF President in his defence on the claim alleged on Arise Tv that the former sports minister has secrets that are yet to be public.

Pinnick further accused Dalung of biting hard on the administration that gave him the privilege to become a minister.

Pinnick said, “I think that is very pathetic because, at his level, you do not demarket or disparage a government or a system that gave you an extraordinary opportunity to be a minister. You enable that government from behind.

“What was his motive, there are so many thing that are better left unsaid about the former minister. But you don’t come to public space and start criticizing your successor daily, saying things that are not meant to be said. It is unethical. It is morally wrong and I can tell you, let him first meditate and take a backseat and ask himself a question.

“Is sports all that lucrative? He was there for three and half years. What did he turn in? Under Sunday Dare I’m not here to defend him, [He brought] in stability in Nigerian football; sponsorships coming in torrents. A lot of positives that are recognised.

“I don’t want to go into any form of comparison. To tell you the truth, there is practically no basis of comparison. I have worked with three ministers: I have worked with [Tammy] Danagogo, I worked with Dalung, I worked with Sunday Dare.

“The beauty about Sunday Daire is that he listens to superior arguments.”

He said Dalung was wrong when he criticised the ministry and discredited the minister.