Solomon Dalung, former Minister of Youths and Sports Development, says the 2023 general election is about the quality of candidates and not their political parties.
Dalung, also 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 said that Nigerians were more political aware and that their considerations in the current political dispensation was about the qualities of candidates and not their political parties.
“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, 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 said that the performance of an elected person was the only weapon he could use to survive in 2023 general election.
“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 said that the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) was in government for 16 years, but it was defeated in 2015 by 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 number of years in office,” he added.