By Eric Elezuo
To further prove the opposition’s ability to contest and wrest power from the President Bola Tinubu-led All Progressives Congress (APC) national government, a chieftain of the African Democratic Congress (ADC), who is the Chairman, Ovation Media Group, Chief Dele Momodu, has made convincing arguments, stressing why Tinubu may not return to power in 2027.
Speaking during an interview on Channels television during the week, Momodu reiterated that though Tinubu has succeeded in muscling opposition through coercion and intimidation, a new force of the people will ensure that the APC and Tinubu are sent packing in 2027. He reiterated that the ruling party is jittery, and is afraid of competition. And that explains why opposition forces are being coerced to join the APC.
The following are excerpts from the no-holds-barred interview:
I can almost guess one of your answers to some of the questions we’ll ask you, but let me start by asking: some activity has kicked off in different political parties. But you know how it is—people want to see some opposition, a major opposition that challenges the ruling party, so people can have a proper alternative. Because what is a democracy without opposition in the first place? So, what’s going on with the ADC?
Okay. Let me start by saying that you are not being fair to the ADC.
How so?
I’ll prove it in a moment. The reason you are saying this is because the APC was already comfortably seated. They “jagabaned” as many people as possible from the other parties into their own party. They have all the resources in the world. They have all the security in the world. They even have control of INEC. When I say control of INEC, I mean that INEC is appointed by the government.
And they have jumped the gun. They started campaigning more than a year ago. You cannot say you are not aware that, recklessly, even a minister left his job and travelled to his home state. I’m sure for a week or two weeks, he was running a campaign as if the election would be next month.
So how then do you expect an opposition to operate when they have virtually shut down most of the opposition parties—either forcefully or even frontally? They are not hiding it.
Today, for the first time, we have a leader who controls two parties and is approved by the President of Nigeria. He says, “Yes, he is the leader of my party, APC,” and he is also a leader in the PDP. Is that democracy?
So the president cannot speak about the PDP, while the minister cannot speak about the APC, because it does not technically belong to the APC. But just because of the ongoing rascality in Nigeria, anything goes, and everything goes.
So when you blame the opposition, of course, the opposition is gathering momentum. You can see that even the government is jittery. Forget about their propagandists; they can import or export whoever they want to use for their propaganda. It is obvious that the ruling party is jittery, and that is why they are going all out, frantically, trying to showcase and pretend that all is well.
If you read the news today, you will see that the APC is indeed a house of commotion. From Benue to Zamfara to so many other places, you will see them fighting themselves like babies fighting for lollipops. And it is just starting.
For us, we have to be more technical. We have to be more sober.
The APC is able to fund its activities. Everybody that goes there right now is going there for various reasons. One, if you are a governor, you are afraid for your second term. If you are a governor, you are afraid of the EFCC. If you are a governor, you are afraid of the ICPC. If you are a governor, you are afraid of so many things—including your own shadow.
So a governor will voluntarily go into slavery and servitude because they know that the leadership they are dealing with is not a regular leadership. It is not a Goodluck Jonathan.
You understand? So you have a very tough leadership at the moment. There is this palpable fear across the nation, and so the opposition is trying to put its act together. We cannot, at this stage, behave recklessly.
If you want to play Brazil in football, you must play a different style. We cannot play their style because we don’t have what they have—the apparatus of power and so on and so forth.
But the most important thing is that we are ready to ask the electorate: is your life better today than it was when Buhari was in power? Now, the APC is supposed to be an offshoot of the Buhari administration. Yet every day it is the APC itself that is blaming Buhari and blaming the APC.
So when you see a situation like that, you will wonder if these people are serious at all.
Now they are saying, “Oh yes, they stabilized the exchange rate against the dollar.” I laugh. They forget to tell us where the dollar was when they took power.
They tell us today they are running budgets in trillions, but they forget to tell us what they have done with the trillions and whether they have been able to balance the budget.
They tell you that there is no government ever like the government of President Bola Tinubu. No problem. Maybe it’s reverse psychology so that people can believe that this government actually is not doing what it is supposed to be doing.
So when they talk about everything, you removed fuel subsidy from Day 1, you have not been able to tell us how it has affected Nigeria positively.
All the people are feeling is the negative effect of the subsidy. You have taken more loans than all the governments of Nigeria combined, yet we have not seen the effect of those loans.
So a lot is going on that Nigerians cannot understand. But there is a preponderance of propagandists who are willing to delete their brains and sell their souls for peanuts. That is why you see this cacophony of excuses on radio, on television, and in the newspapers.
So for me, the ADC does not have to do much. We will meet them, insha’Allah—by God’s grace—point by point, and we will demand answers to those issues.
Okay. So, in terms of what the electorate wants to see—organization, for instance. The last time the ADC came forward and spoke about the Electoral Act, many people wondered why those concerns did not come earlier, when the window was open, rather than after it had already been signed and then asking for it to be looked into again.
People thought, “Okay, does the ADC have some sort of plan that the public is not aware of?” Because even smaller opposition parties—well, let me not say smaller because they might get angry, but it’s a statement of fact. APP, for example, has also dissolved its executives and is electing new ones.
So those kinds of activities are what people expect to see. Because the media only reports what happens; if it doesn’t happen, they cannot report or fabricate it.
So those are the kinds of things we are asking about in terms of organization and preparedness, to be sure that the timeframe is met. Now that the presidential election is in January, these actions ought to have kicked in so that candidates—or aspirants—can know that, “Okay, I think I can pitch my tent here.”
My dear brother, there is nothing to worry about. There is nothing to worry about.
Strategy is strategy. I said it earlier—we cannot use Tinubu’s strategy. We cannot use his methodology. He has his own way of getting his results. So we now have to factor in how we are going to navigate and meander around his own strategy to get him out of the seat. That is the job of the opposition. That is what he did when he was in opposition. So there is no reason why others should not be allowed to do the same.
One thing is clear to us in opposition—I’ve said it before—the APC is jittery. Number two, the APC does not want competition, especially at the presidential level. That is very clear. They don’t want any form of competition. And if possible—and that is why they are sowing seeds of discord from party to party—it is clear. That is why they will hold some people and they will not hold others. It doesn’t matter.
You see, I am always spiritual in my life. I was born in Aladura church in Ile-Ife, and all my life I have always believed that it is God who gives power. No matter how powerful you are, God has a way. In Nigeria, when you talk about God, people say it means you are helpless. Don’t worry—I have seen miracles in my life. So those miracles will happen in Nigeria.
I am a good student of history, and I can see clearly that all the shenanigans going on right now around the APC, trying to infiltrate every political party—I know that their mission and ambition now, if possible, is to have all 36 governors. It doesn’t matter. Let them take all the governors.
But when you look back to 2023, you will see that we had the G5 governors led by Nyesome Wike. Out of those five governors, three of them contested to be senators, supervised by governors in their own states. Yet all three of them lost their senatorial seats.
It tells you something: there is no guarantee that even if they carry all the governors, those governors can deliver for Asiwaju. So when people panic and say they cannot see preparations, don’t worry. Be patient. Slow and steady wins the race. We know what we are doing. And to say that we have not been campaigning or doing anything—I don’t know anybody who has worked better than Mallam Bolaji Abdullahi. I watch him every day. I see all the activities. We respond to all the radicality and so on and so forth.
But like I said, of course, the will of the state is very strong. All we are trying to do is chip away at it slowly but steadily, and then effectively. It will happen.
You have to remember that I was there when the APC itself was formed. I wasn’t a member at that time, but we supported the government of Buhari. And this was the same way the PDP people were saying, “No, it’s not possible. You cannot defeat an incumbent.”
And people are arguing now, saying, “Oh, because Tinubu is next to God, he is an oracle in Lagos, he is everything on planet earth.” No problem.
But we all have brains. And that brain is what we are going to use.
Let me ask you this, because a number of people wonder—and it’s a question I have almost always asked. Look, how does the internal politics of one political party become so susceptible to the influence of an individual from another political party? But maybe that’s not an issue to respond to for now.
There is an issue in the Electoral Act, and I’m sure it is something that is also of concern to you. Oh, by the way, you may want to respond to that other issue.
It is about the digital register that is being sought. Is the ADC, in your opinion, ready? Because I don’t think we can give any excuse. The understanding we have for now—even in a statement put out by YIAGA Africa—is that any political party that does not have its digital register ready may not be able to present candidates during the elections.
So is the ADC ready? What are the inhibitions or hurdles that you think need to be crossed by the ADC in particular, in order to get it ready? Do you think it is something that the ADC, as a growing and substantive opposition, can achieve?
My dear brother, as a prominent media practitioner, I beg you—try to encourage democracy. Try to encourage opposition.
Look, all the APC has been doing is to manipulate the system, and every day, there are new laws that you must obey. There are requirements that you must fulfil. Is that democracy?
But they cannot hide behind one finger, as Chief MKO Abiola used to say. Let them continue to manipulate and meander, and we too will navigate around it.
Is there any law anywhere that says only party members will vote during the general election? The answer is no. So when it comes to picking candidates, there are different methods and ways by which a party can choose its candidate. It has nothing to do with digital registration.
The digital registration right now is ongoing everywhere in different political parties. At the appropriate time, the parties will determine how they will do it. They are not the ones who will tell us who to pick or how to pick that person.
So I don’t know why this panic exists. Go and check the APC that you say is ready. In almost every state right now, they are fighting. In Lagos State, the only reason nobody can fight openly is because they have always operated the “Baba’s sope” style of governance.
I apologize for cutting in, but the question I’m asking is actually about the preparedness of the ADC. Because whether we like it or not—just a second—whether we like it or not, it’s already a law. Political parties must present their digital register.
I’m saying that they are complying. The ADC will comply. Even when we disagree with some of the things they are throwing at us, the ADC is strong enough.
You have some of the biggest veterans of politics in the ADC, and they are ready. They know how to play the game. So I am telling you—we are not illiterate.
So how do you want to frustrate us or intimidate us with digitalization? It is something that everybody would like to participate in. But to now single out the ADC and say, “We don’t know what you guys are doing”—I have already said: be patient with us.
When was the ADC was formed, all manner of challenges were thrown at us, yet we were still standing. So don’t panic on our behalf. Let us do our job. Let us focus on what we need to do. And if we fail, then you can say anything.
We are hoping that no political party will fail, sincerely. Otherwise, there will be no democracy at all. Because we need to have a viable opposition—truly viable opposition.
How do you have a viable opposition when the ruling party is clearly dictatorial? How? That’s why I said you should be practical and support the opposition by asking relevant questions from the ruling government.
Is it not an admission on your part, Chief Momodu, that the ADC does not have what it takes to stand up against the APC?
Don’t say that. That is judgmental.
No, what you are saying is that the APC has muscled the opposition.
Yes, it has muscled the opposition. But wait for the response from the people. You always talk about opposition as if it is only about political parties. The biggest opposition in the world are the floaters. The floaters don’t have to belong to any party.
On the day of voting, you will see how they will pour out and vote massively against an oppressive government—and defend their vote.
You are saying it as if the APC has a monopoly on this thing. That’s why I’m saying our strategy cannot be open at this stage. In fact, we would be stupid to let the whole world know what we are planning. We can’t.
A lot of people did not even see the ADC coming, yet they had been meeting for over a year. And when they finally came together, the ruling party was scared. That is why they are running helter-skelter, sending their agents—“Go and file this case in court, go and file that case against the Labour Party, go against NNDP, go against this one.”
You will see the coalition.
I told you I was there in 2015. How many leaders came together in 2015 to make Buhari president? The number of people we have in the ADC today, and the calibre of men and women we have in the ADC today, will scare the daylights out of them.
They can spend all their resources—spend all the resources of Nigeria—trying to defeat the ADC, but the ADC will emerge victorious. I’m very sure about that.
So, as we wind down, you said we shouldn’t panic on your behalf—we’ll note that. But yesterday we had the Governor of Adamawa State on the program, and when we asked him the reasons why he moved and what that meant for the opposition—he was in the PDP and then moved to the APC—he said the North should forget about 2027.
According to him, there is an unwritten rule that, for things to move smoothly politically, the South has to finish its turn, and then it reverts to the North so that the unwritten agreement can continue smoothly. What do you think of that?
It is those who have nothing better to say who talk about North and South.
The Constitution of Nigeria is supreme, and the Constitution of Nigeria does not talk about zoning. Even if you want to talk about whether zoning has been fair to a particular region in the South or in the North, you will see that Nigeria has been fair to the South.
Obasanjo did eight years, after which Yar’Adua did about three years, and then Jonathan completed that tenure to about ten years. Jonathan then contested and won, giving him about five years plus the earlier eight years of Obasanjo—and he was still allowed to contest again, which, if he had won, would have made it about seventeen years out of twenty-four or thereabouts. So look, those who say these things—I don’t want to waste my time on that.
But let me respond to the Governor Fintiri, who joined the APC because he believes it is the turn of the South. Oh, how cheeky.
His people were chased out of their villages just in the last couple of days or weeks. So has he gone to the APC to thank them for securing his people? A lot of people who are going into the APC—why are they going?
Take Kwara State now, which is in the hands of the APC. Are they happy and joyous that their people are being killed by bandits?
In every part of the nation where you have the APC, it is a story of sorrow, tears, and blood.
So what exactly is the APC offering them that they are all running out of shelter and falling over themselves to praise a god of iron who must be obeyed?
It’s unfortunate.
But when tomorrow comes—we have seen it before.
I remember when a lot of people insisted they must join the Abacha government. Go and read the history and see what happened there afterward. Everybody was saying, “If you don’t join Abacha, other people will take the appointment.”
Is life only about power? The answer is, No.
The problem with Nigerian leaders is that they don’t read much, especially history. They don’t like history. If they liked history, they would know what happened to others in the past who tried to enslave their own people. They would read about it all over the world.
Some governors now believe the only way they can win a second term—by fire, by force—is if they go to the APC. This is what is going on. You are asking why the opposition cannot take them on. Take on who? Take on Tinubu? Why didn’t the opposition take them on in Lagos in the last 27 years? You know how this game is played.
The President of Nigeria is one of the most powerful presidents—until Donald Trump started whipping sense into us. The presidency can do anything. Now our president is begging America to come and help us. Who does that, when we were the ones helping other parts of Africa?
I was there in Sierra Lone, I was there in Congo. I was in Liberia. Our soldiers controlled ten out of fifteen counties in Liberia. So what has happened to our soldiers today that we have to beg America to come and take over our country? We’re not serious.
In case I might have missed it—do we have a date for the ADC congresses?
Everything will be announced, and of course, you know Channels will be one of the first to get it. We are operating in a very professional way. We are not going to play a rough game with the APC. It is not necessary.
The people we are targeting are the people. This is not about playing politics.
Most of us—when you see us now—we are veterans. There is nothing I am looking for in politics. I have always technically been in opposition, and I am happy that we are still standing firm.
The ADC is not the problem of Nigeria.
The APC is the problem.
So let’s all come together. Don’t discourage anybody. If you have suggestions, make them to whomever you wish.
But to say, “Oh, we are not ready. We can’t take them on with just one year to the election.” Are we still talking about that? Anything can happen in the next one month.
The APC is falling apart. They appointed ambassadors, and they can’t even post them. Some of them did thanksgiving in church. Some of them went to fashion designers to sew their dresses in advance.
Yet today they are not there. They are all mourning behind the scene.
Look, the majority of my friends are in the APC. Sometimes when I hear their pain, I feel it. They talk about the difficulties they are facing. They don’t know what is going on because everybody must wait for Abuja. They can’t do anything without Abuja.
So I’m very confident. I know what is going on behind the scenes. A lot of people are going there, but what they expect to find there, they are not finding easily.
Thank you.
So we’ll have to anchor at this point. We do thank you very much indeed for your time this morning. Many will be looking to see how those activities also kick off.
Chief, thank you for your time today.
Thank you, and have a nice day.
All right.
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