Dele Momodu, publisher of Ovation magazine, has described Datti Baba-Ahmed, vice-presidential candidate of the Labour Party (LP) in the 2023 elections, as an aggrieved person, likening him to a jilted lover.
Momodu’s remarks followed Baba-Ahmed’s criticism of members of the African Democratic Congress (ADC).
On Wednesday, while declaring his intention to contest the 2027 presidential election, Baba-Ahmed described members of the ADC coalition as “disgruntled politicians”.
He also labelled some former LP members who defected to the ADC as “political travellers”.
However, while speaking on Sunrise Daily, a Channels Television programme on Thursday, Momodu said he was very surprised by Baba-Ahmed’s attacks on other politicians, stressing that politics should not be driven by personal grievance or emotional reactions.
“He has a right to say anything. I am very, very surprised about how he talks down on other politicians,” Momodu said.
“He is free to contest, but he knows that today the Labour Party is not what it was in the last election.
“And the reason he is aggrieved is that he goes and pursues his own dreams and knows that, in that coalition, it is not likely….”
“I’m not bothered at all. He is an aggrieved person; he’s like a jilted lover. He ran with Peter Obi the last time; he would expect to run again, but they should not turn themselves into serial contestants.
“Only serial contestants would not think about the larger picture. The larger picture right now is that, ever before, there was Datti, and there was Atiku Abubakar, a visionary man, who saw Peter Obi as a star of Nigerian politics and picked him in 2019 against the wishes of some governors.”
He said the decision showed the importance of recognising capacity and the “bigger picture” rather than focusing on sectional interests.
Momodu added that elections are “a game of mathematics”, urging politicians to work with those who had built structures and platforms capable of delivering results at the polls.
