He’s like a jilted lover — Momodu knocks Baba-Ahmed over ‘disgruntled politicians’ comment
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Dele Momodu, publisher of Ovation magazine, has criticised Yusuf Datti Baba-Ahmed, the Labour Party’s vice-presidential candidate in the 2023 election, over his recent comments targeting members of the African Democratic Congress (ADC), describing him as “an aggrieved person” and likening his posture to that of “a jilted lover.”
Momodu spoke on Thursday during Sunrise Daily, a Channels Television programme, reacting to Baba-Ahmed’s remarks made a day earlier while declaring his interest in contesting the 2027 presidential election on the platform of the Labour Party.
During the declaration, Baba-Ahmed had described members of the ADC coalition as “disgruntled politicians” and referred to some former Labour Party members who defected to the ADC as “political travellers.”
Responding, Momodu said he was taken aback by the tone of Baba-Ahmed’s comments, warning that politics should not be shaped 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.
While affirming Baba-Ahmed’s right to contest the presidency, Momodu noted that the political context had changed significantly since the last general election.
“He is free to contest, but he knows that today the Labour Party is not what it was in the last election,” he said.
According to Momodu, Baba-Ahmed’s criticism of the ADC stemmed from frustration over his political expectations within the emerging coalition.
“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,” he added.
The Ovation publisher went further to characterise Baba-Ahmed’s reaction as emotional, saying, “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.”
Momodu cautioned against what he described as narrow political calculations, arguing that leadership ambition should be guided by a broader national interest.
“Only serial contestants would not think about the larger picture,” he said, adding that coalition politics required compromise and strategic thinking.
He cited former Vice-President Atiku Abubakar’s decision to pick Peter Obi as his running mate in 2019 as an example of political foresight.
“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,” Momodu said.
He concluded by stressing that electoral success depended on structure and numbers, describing elections as “a game of mathematics,” and urged politicians to align with platforms capable of delivering results at the polls.
The post He’s like a jilted lover — Momodu knocks Baba-Ahmed over ‘disgruntled politicians’ comment appeared first on Vanguard News.
