Read the 2011 article below:

As ex-coup plotter, Buhari not qualified to rule–Dele Momodu, NCP presidential candidate

Sunday, March 06, 2011

Dele Momodu

Those who underrate him, those who think he is just another political wannabe must have started asking themselves this crucial question: have we been fair to Dele Momodu?
The answer to that poser is as clear as daylight. But in a political climate that has been seriously polluted by desperadoes and dominated by people with obscene wealth, it is quite easy for some people not to want to reckon with him as a ‘serious’ contender in the race to the Aso Rock Presidential Villa.

That is why Momodu, a man of humble beginnings, who has been ruling his destiny through dint of hard work and unwavering commitment to his cause, has come out smoking, flaunting his capacity to project more receptive political personality than most of the ‘big men’ traversing the country’s chaotic space.
To convince doubting Thomases that he has what it takes to be president, come May 29, the Ovation publisher-turned-presidential candidate of the National Conscience Party (NCP), goes back in time, tracing his political trajectory to 1983, when he was appointed private secretary of the then Deputy Governor of Ondo State, Chief Akin Omoboriowo. He impresses with how he coursed through the riots that turned Ondo State to a huge hell on earth, as well as his involvement in virtually all the country’s major political developments since that date, the biggest being the June 12, 1993, watershed.

Momodu adds up all the highpoints of his impressive credentials and declares that he is more eminently qualified to rule Nigeria than General Muhammadu Buhari, incumbent President Goodluck Jonathan, and other ‘big men’ now strutting the land, angling for the soul of Nigeria.
Here are excerpts of the interview:

From the way you spoke just now, it appears you are not quite with your colleagues, journalists, on this race…
It’s not as if I’m not pleased with them, but some of my colleagues, journalists underrate me. But I’m not surprised. Right through when I was in school, I was always underrated by people who thought I was playful. And my secret was that you would never see me when I am working. You can only see me when I am playing.

Why was that so?
Because I am the type of person that always do things my way. So, it is very difficult for you to know precisely when I am busy. And then I have this demeanour of someone who is not serious because I can joke with anything. My life is easy-going. I don’t compete with everybody. I only compete with myself. I don’t hate anybody, but rather people hate me. That is just me. If I am hungry, you won’t know because I am big.

The only hunger you used to show when we were in Concord was the hunger for your Guilder.
(Laughs…) You still remember, my brother. I was one of the few people who could bring a bottle of beer into the newsroom. You know that we used to have a ‘bush canteen’ in Concord, and if you want to drink you have to go there. But I broke all the rules even when I was in African Concord. For instance, we had something like a tariff that guided travels. If you are a reporter, you cannot spend more than N30 a day. N30 was not a small amount of money then. If you are a staff writer, you cannot spend more than N45 a day. But in my own case, I will travel and bring a bill to Louis Obi (the Editor-in-Chief), and say that I spent N100. The man will flare up and say, ‘you are getting too expensive, Dele.’ And I would say ‘yes, my stories are getting expensive too. He would just say, ‘okay’ and he would sign the paper.

The only person I could not bully was Bayo Onanuga (Editor), who is an Ijebu man. Anytime I came, and Bayo was acting editor, I would hide my claim until Louis Obi would come back. Oh, we had fun. I could do all that because my stories were stories that editors loved to have; and because I was good in writing, in fact, Mike Awoyinfa wrote about that many times in his column that I was an editor’s delight, because when I write, it is final. There is nothing an editor needs to do again. In fact, Louis Obi gave me a theory that he prefers to hire a writer than a reporter. He said that a writer can report, but a reporter may not be able to write. He just goes there, gets the raw material and usually, if you are not able to write, you may not be able to present the report well. That was why he preferred good writers. That was why he had people like Ike Okonta and the rest of them. That was what happened. He made sure that the writer was king.
But some editors prefer the opposite. Some editors prefer reporters because they (editors) can rewrite the stories reporters who couldn’t write well bring in.

Oh yes. I used to re-write a lot. Even in the days of May Ellen Ezekiel (the late publisher of the defunct Weekend Classique), when she was writing a column for Weekend Concord, that was what brought me close to her. Then, there was a particular period when I was doing the SAP (Structural Adjustment Programme) riots in May 1989. We had just started Weekend Concord when the event occurred. She saw me writing a story, with one of my legs on the table, and as usual, my bottle of Guilder by my side. So, she said, ‘How can you be writing a story and you are drinking?’ And I said, ‘Well, whenever I have very tough situations like this, I like to have a pint of beer.’ And Concord was still like an Islamic Empire then, and people didn’t expect me to get away from things like that. But I think I got away with so many things because of my work. I was a workaholic then.

Meanwhile, in the first edition of the paper, the headline was Black Wednesday in Lagos. I was not in Lagos when the riot took place. I was not in Lagos when the first edition was produced. I came after they had produced the first edition. I told the editor, ‘this is nonsense’. I had a different perspective. And that was one thing that drew me close to Mr. Mike Awoyinfa. I could talk to my boss. I came in and I threw the paper on his table, and I said: ‘Editor, how can you produce this thing? You are saying Black Wednesday and the paper is coming out on Saturday? From Wednesday to Saturday, it would have turned white from black.’

Everybody there laughed. So, he said, ‘what are you suggesting?’
I said, nobody has had the courage to write about what led to the riots in the first place. Everybody just said there was a riot, but nobody wrote the nitty-gritty of the events. He said, ‘can you write it?’ And I said ‘I am ready’. You will not believe it, I produced what I believed was a masterpiece. It was one of my best stories ever in Concord. I started by saying, ‘A rumour developed wings in Benin City, and like a bush fire in harmattan, it took on a new dimension in Lagos.’ And I was painting very vivid imagination of what happened. Fortunately, Chief M.K.O. Abiola had just come back from a trip abroad and he brought us the latest Ebony. Those who were carrying the rumour said it was published in Ebony, in America, that Maryam Babangida owned one of the biggest boutiques in France, and that the then First Family stashed so much money somewhere.

We checked the magazine, page-to-page, there was nothing like that. So, in my story, I quoted what everybody was saying and I said we have a copy of Ebony with us. And number two, Ebony was not known for writing rumours, and we did a bromide so people could see. So, even if government wanted to get angry that we were repeating what people were saying, there was balance in the story. And that is what helped me in journalism, even till today. I always balance my story.

Then there was another great story you wrote on Mike Uyi…
Yeah, he was the president of the Student Union Government of the University of Ibadan. He was an occasional student, and he stayed so long on the campus, he would not graduate. People, at the time, actually believed that he was a government agent. At the end of the day, he himself bowed to my style of reporting. That was one thing about my stories, even if you didn’t like them, you could not fault the facts. They were clear.

Most people who watched you from afar would wonder what used to drive you. Whenever you go for story, you always got the story?
I came to Lagos out of joblessness. I was always mindful of my background. I was always mindful of the fact that I came from a very poor family. We didn’t have a single rich man from the first generation to the last generation in my family. So, I was desperate to break the jinx of poverty in the family. My mother was growing old and I had lost my father at the age of 13. And I knew my huge responsibility within my family. I knew that the only key that would unlock my future was hard work. That was what propelled me.

...Article too long..Read the concluding part of the interview @ http://newsnownigeria.com.ng/dele-momodu-apologies-to-buhari-says-i-was-wrong-in-2011-see-tweet/

Dele is such a b#tch a55 nigga.. D guy mouth run pass usain bolt..

Dele Momodu chop belleful like El-Rufai and then sought to warp opinion. El-Rufai and Dele Momodu were right in 2011, stomach infrastructure has only now just warped their opinion to something else.
[size=15pt]Buhari has nothing to offer…should retire says El-Rufai[/size]

Mallam El-Rufai wishes to remind General Buhari that he has remained perpetually unelectable because his record as military head of state, and afterwards, is a warning that many Nigerians have wisely heeded. His insensitivity to Nigeria’s diversity and his parochial focus are already well-known. In 1984, Buhari allowed 53 suitcases belonging to his ADC’s father to enter Nigeria unchecked at a time the country was exchanging old currency for new

If Buhari was unelectable for "insensitivity to Nigeria’s diversity" in 2003 2007 2011, what has changed now?

Mogidi:
Dele Momodu chop belleful like El-Rufai and then sought to warp opinion. El-Rufai and Dele Momodu were right in 2011, stomach infrastructure has only now just warped their opinion to something else.
[size=15pt]Buhari has nothing to offer…should retire says El-Rufai[/size]



If Buhari was unelectable for "insensitivity to Nigeria’s diversity" in 2003 2007 2011, what has changed now?

Poverty has changed us all......Garri taste the same to an Igbo, Hausa and Yoruba,,,,,,,....People are dying of hunger while GEj and his friends ( Alameysia, Maduek and ODua) are getting fat.
When Bokoharam invaded Bama, People where helping themselves out of the town, they didnt ask of tribe or religion.....Nigerians helped Nigerians escape from geting killed.
Poverty and death Unites us all........

Nobody is perfect. I hope Dele Momodu isn't saying all this because he feels GMB can win the Feb election thus giving him appointment.