A presidential aspirant on the platform of the Peoples Democratic Party and the publisher of Ovation magazine, Chief Dele Momodu, has denied the talks about him supporting or endorsing the National Leader of the All Progressives Congress, Asiwaju Bola Tinubu’s quest of becoming the president of Nigeria.
Dele Momodu was criticised for passing off an article he wrote about him in 2019 as an endorsement of his 2023 presidential ambition.
The article written by Momodu on October 26, 2019, argued that Tinubu was eminently qualified to contest the presidency. The article reads in part, “If you ask me if he is a saint, I will say no. None of us is. Not even Buhari. Not you, not me. Nations are not governed by saints but by performers.”
Tinubu on Monday confirmed the speculation that he wanted to contest presidency next year when he said he declared his intention to run for the presidency in 2023 to the President, Major General Muhammadu Buhari (retd).
Some concocted statements credited to notable individuals had surfaced online since Tinubu’s affirmation, linking them to endorsements of the ambition of the ex-governor of Lagos State.
Momodu, who described himself as the latest victim of the handlers, wrote on his instagram page on Saturday that though he didn’t know who the media handlers of Tinubu were, but he could reasonably confirm that they had been ‘fumbling too much by being so cheap, unimaginative and jejune in their campaigns.’’
He wondered if they were not ashamed that several people had publicly denied endorsing Tinubu for the 2023 presidential election because of the ‘unfortunate desperation to sell him as the only APC candidate in 2023.’’
He wrote, “An article I wrote two years ago about Tinubu has suddenly become a fresh endorsement in 2022. What chicanery is this? While I have tremendous respect for Asiwaju Bola Tinubu, his handlers have no right to engage in pure mischief by abusing our relationship. They have even made pamphlets of my article. But unknown to them, a lot of water has passed under the bridge since I wrote the article and I have my cogent reasons for not joining the APC-President Muhammadu Buhari’s divisiveness and the culpable silence of Tinubu and the Vice President, Professor Yemi Osinbajo in condoning his excesses and keeping mute in the face of barefaced tyranny. Southern leaders who crave to be President have failed to protect their own people from blistering attack they have endured under the Buhari government, most especially people of the South-East.’’