Veteran journalist and publisher of Ovation Magazine, Dele Momodu, has warned President Bola Ahmed Tinubu not to allow his legacy to descend into the “book of ignominy” because he wants to rule Nigeria for a second term “by fire, by force.”

Speaking during an interview on ARISE NEWS on Wednesday, Momodu said, “My advice to Tinubu is that once upon a time, you were one of our leaders when we were fighting for this democracy. So what shall it profit you, if you can do two terms, three terms, if you can live forever and rule Nigeria forever, by the end of the day, your name enters that book of ignominy. If I meet him today, that’s the question I ask. Is it worth it?

“You got what Awolowo could not get, you got what Abiola could not get, what Azikiwe was chasing, what all the big people, Chief Olu Falae. These are people of incredible mental capacity. They couldn’t get it, you got it, either by hook, by crook, by the law, by whatever means, you got it. And because you must do second term by fire, by force, then you would destroy the entire democracy?”

Momodu also took aim at Minister of the FCT, Nyesom Wike, blaming his bitterness over losing the PDP’s 2023 vice-presidential tickets for the party’s prolonged internal crisis.

He said, “Governors of PDP today are powerless. Wike will go on there and insult them, abuse them. They can’t even talk. So, if today, now as people have left, I hear Damagun is now saying that he’s going to woo them. There was another report that he said they would sanction them. You can’t sanction them, and you can’t woo them, because they’ve already left. These are not kids. They were begging for two years. Just because Wike lost vice-presidential bid, he has remained inconsolable. I say it every time I speak about him. Good guy, he’s trying for infrastructure, but this anger, you can’t forgive?”

Momodu also said that Wike would rather stay in the PDP than go to the APC to retain power, saying, “I dare him to join APC tomorrow. Tell him that if he has the guts, let him join APC. The president told him the other day, when you are ready to join us, we’ll welcome you. He can’t. Because for him, it is better to reign in hell than to serve in heaven.”

Momodu went on to declare his full support for the newly adopted opposition platform, the African Democratic Congress (ADC), which has reportedly gained backing from key political figures including Atiku Abubakar, Peter Obi, and others.

Momodu revealed that the formation of the coalition had been carefully planned over 18 months, with meetings held discreetly across London, Morocco, and Ghana, away from surveillance and political sabotage.

He added that with an interim national structure in place, including a new chairman and secretary, the ADC is no longer a fringe party but the organisational engine for the opposition going into 2027.

Momodu then called on concerned citizens to stand up before Nigeria’s democracy is pushed beyond the brink, saying, “We have elders in Nigeria. In the days of tribulations, children run to the elders of the house. And the people you saw today, they’ve consulted the elders of the house. They’ve appealed to them to intervene. But unfortunately, some of the guys you have in APC today are people who don’t listen to anybody. They are too power drunk and they cannot listen to anybody. But before they collapse our democracy, some people must rise up. That’s what the ADC did today. (AriseNews TV)