3rd February, 2016
Eromosele Ebhomele
Following a barrage of inquiries into why the Nigerian Sports Minister, Solomon Dalung, has made the red beret and khaki a major fashion trademark, the minister has said his unique dressing signifies the suffering of the poor in the country as well as the sacrifice of some Nigerians to keep the country united.
Apart from this, the dressing, he said, signifies the massive challenges in the land and the need to find a lasting solution to them.
There had been various insinuations with some Nigerians accusing him of being a cultist.
But making the clarification on his Facebook wall, Dalung said: “so many people have asked this same question: ‘what is behind your mode of outfits and what is the motivating principle?’
“The ‘Red Beret’ is my signature for a struggle of the common people. The ‘Khaki’ is just nothing but a very modest way of appreciating the magnitude of problems the ‘common people’ face in this country.
“I don’t fancy putting on attires outside that because it does not at all, portray our understanding of the situation in which we operate.
“There are people in this country who find it difficult to eat one meal a day and yet, we intimidate and harass them with gorgeously expensive dresses. Some of our apparels can even feed a whole community!
“I find it difficult to reconcile such an irony.
“So, I have decided to just live happily and modestly because that is how I feel happy each time I am in my simple wears.
“As for the ‘Red Beret’, it is the signature of those who struggle against injustice, violence and oppression of the poor.
“In fact, the red colour, historically represents the blood of the poor people who have been struggling for a better society.
“Each time we look at the red beret, we remember that some people have sacrificed their lives in struggling to live better in a world which was created by God and which others have decided to hijack and live at their own advantage against the voiceless majority.
“So…the summary of who I am is that I am a comrade walking the talk,” he said.