Publisher Dele Momodu has criticised what he described as the growing influence of Minister of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), Nyesom Wike, in President Bola Tinubu’s administration, suggesting that Nigeria appears to be under dual leadership.
Momodu, a former presidential aspirant under the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), said this on Wednesday’s edition of Channels Television’s The Morning Brief while reacting to recent political developments involving Wike and President Tinubu.
“In fact, right now, it’s looking like we have two presidents in Nigeria. Wike can do anything,” he stated, arguing that “even President Bola Ahmed Tinubu, who has held Lagos since 1999 to date, has not been as audacious as Wike”.
His remarks followed Tinubu’s inauguration of the refurbished International Conference Centre in Abuja, renamed in the president’s honour, on Tuesday.
During the event, Tinubu praised Wike and urged him to ignore “busybodies and naysayers” as he discharged his duties in the FCT.
However, Momodu faulted the president’s comment and said, “I listened to the President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria calling fellow Nigerians ‘busybodies’. You interpreted it as ‘naysayers’—‘naysayers’ is still far better. Who is a bystander in his own country because of one man?”
He continued, “If you were in Wike’s shoes, you would dance more than he danced yesterday. I saw the expressions on the faces of the audience—they looked befuddled, like, ‘what is our country turning into?’ The man was dancing because he launched a conference centre reportedly built at a stupendous cost of over ₦30 billion.”
‘Action Backed From Top’
The PDP chieftain accused the All Progressives Congress (APC)-led government of enabling Wike’s actions, likening the situation to the minister’s time as governor of Rivers State.
“What Wike is doing is clearly being done with the backing of those at the top. It’s a rehash of what he did in Rivers,” Momodu added.
He added, “A major crisis of monumental dimension was orchestrated in Rivers by one man, and we all sat down watching until they had to declare a state of emergency—just because he wouldn’t go away quietly as governor. I have never seen anything like that. It’s unprecedented.”
‘Who is Wike?’
The PDP has been in crisis since losing the 2023 presidential election. Photo: X@Lere Olayinka.
Momodu’s comment came in the wake of the crisis rocking the main opposition PDP, which has seen governors, members of the National Assembly, and a host of politicians moving from the party to the leading APC.
Wike, a member of the PDP, backed Tinubu for the 2023 election and was later appointed as minister by the APC government.
However, he expressed frustration over Wike’s influence in party decisions, questioning the FCT minister’s recent push for the PDP to zone its 2027 presidential ticket to the South.
Momodu said, “Who is Wike to dictate where the presidential candidate should come from?”
“What he is doing now is tantamount to staging a coup against a political party using coercion and subterfuge to fight the very party that made him what he is today,” he said.
“Wike no longer has the moral right to determine the direction of the PDP. He’s already picked his candidate and has no say in what the party will do.”
Asked whether he was considering leaving the PDP, Momodu replied, “If I wanted to join the APC, I wouldn’t be speaking to you. I’d be making excuses like everyone else. My soul is totally out of it. I cannot sit in a room where one man dictates to adults who have worked all their lives. I will not be in that room.”
Although Nigeria is set to mark 26 years of democratic rule, the publisher warned that the country is regressing into civilian dictatorship.
“I’m very happy that today coincides with the lead-up to June 12 (Democracy Day), so that if we still have any iota of conscience left, we’ll realise we have damaged this democracy.
“The summary of it all is that on the eve of June 12, Nigeria is virtually back to civilian dictators who don’t care how you feel or what you think. Nigerians are hungry.
“We’ve damaged this democracy, and I hope we’ve not damaged it beyond repair because the audacity, the effrontery of this set of politicians—whether in the executive, legislature, or local government—is totally unbelievable,” he said.
Late Moshood Abiola, acclaimed winner of the 1993 June 12 presidential election.
He added that those who fought and died for democracy, particularly during the June 12 struggle, would be heartbroken if they could witness the current state of the nation.
“All those who suffered for this democracy—especially those who are now in heaven—if they can see us, they would be crying,” Momodu said.
Credit: Channels
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