Dele Momodu has accused Bola Ahmed Tinubu of weakening opposition politics, while saying the president’s rise to power was largely shaped by the influence of the late former leader Muhammadu Buhari.
Momodu made the remarks on Sunday during an appearance on Sunday Politics on Channels Television.
The former presidential candidate said a functioning democracy requires strong opposition parties and credible challengers. According to him, the current political environment discourages political competition.
“There must be opposition politics. There must be opposition candidates,” he said.
Momodu argued that the president appears comfortable with a political system where rivals struggle to challenge the ruling party.
“There must be opposition candidates, but Tinubu wants to contest against himself and it doesn’t make sense to me,” he said.
He also criticised what he described as misleading statistics used to defend government performance.
“You can see all these rabble-rousing they are doing up and down, giving you fake statistics,” Momodu added.
The publisher further claimed that Tinubu’s path to the presidency was closely tied to Buhari’s backing.
“Look, Buhari handed over to Tinubu, but for Buhari it would have been impossible for Tinubu to be president today,” he said.
Momodu also pointed to the political and financial influence associated with Lagos State as an example of the resources available to powerful political figures.
“You can imagine how much Tinubu can generate from Lagos State alone, not to talk of nationally,” he said.
He explained that his political alignment with Atiku Abubakar reflects what he described as a broader effort by some politicians to maintain strong opposition politics in Nigeria.
Momodu’s comments come as political discussions intensify about the strength of opposition parties and the future direction of Nigeria’s democracy.
