In a no-holds-barred interview on Arise TV, media mogul and former presidential hopeful Dele Momodu tore into the state of Nigeria’s opposition politics, issuing a thunderous warning: anyone dreaming of defeating President Bola Tinubu in 2027 must be ready for war—not with guns, but with strategy, unity, and courage.
Momodu didn’t mince words. According to him, the unholy alliance between President Tinubu and FCT Minister Nyesom Wike has created a political juggernaut, powered not only by ambition but by deep-rooted structures of influence, patronage—and possibly, corruption.
“Even when Tinubu wasn’t president, we faced fire,” Momodu said. “Now with Wike in his corner? You’d better come with your best eleven—it’s the World Cup of politics, and corruption is the referee.”
The PDP: Divided, Confused, and Conveniently Silent
Momodu’s most scathing criticism was reserved for his own party—the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP)—particularly its governors, who recently rejected a proposed opposition mega-coalition led by former Vice President Atiku Abubakar.
That coalition, which seeks to merge political heavyweights like Peter Obi, Nasir El-Rufai, and Rabiu Kwankwaso, was swiftly turned down by the PDP governors during a retreat in Ibadan. To Momodu, this rejection reeks of sabotage—or worse, complicity.
“If the PDP refuses to join hands with others to resist this regime, one has to ask—who are they really working for?” Momodu questioned. “There’s a difference between opposition and opportunism.”
Behind the scenes, many Nigerians suspect what Momodu hints at: some opposition figures have been compromised—enticed by political appointments, threatened by anti-graft agencies, or simply bought with oil money and soft promises.
Tinubu’s Empire of Fear
Momodu lamented that fear has become the weapon of choice in Tinubu’s Nigeria. Politicians no longer oppose out of principle; they calculate survival, terrified of being harassed by the EFCC or blackmailed into silence.
“We’re behaving like chickens,” he said. “Everyone’s afraid of arrest, of being audited, of being ‘touched’. But what do we expect when corruption is not only a system—it’s the system?”
A System Designed to Swallow the Brave
Quoting history, Momodu reminded viewers that Lagos State stood alone under Tinubu’s early rule not out of loyalty, but because it was isolated and defiant. That same spirit, he believes, must rise again—but this time, against Tinubu himself.
“A bully only respects a bully,” Momodu declared. “We read about Mandela, about Mau Mau, but we want power handed to us like wedding cake.”
He warned that political betrayals are not just likely—they’re inevitable—as long as governors, senators, and lawmakers continue to jump ship at the sight of a briefcase full of cash or a whisper from the presidency.
“Any politician who defects for convenience might as well jump into the Atlantic,” Momodu added sharply.
The Real Enemy: Internal Corruption
More than Tinubu, more than Wike, the greatest enemy of democratic change, Momodu insists, is internal rot—a system so polluted by self-interest, backdoor deals, and cowardice that even the idea of reform sounds naïve.
He ended his interview with a clarion call—not just to politicians, but to every Nigerian citizen:
“This thing is doable. But only if we fight—not each other, not for positions, but against the machine of corruption that has stolen the soul of our politics.”
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