The Publisher, Ovation Magazine, Mr. Dele Momodu, has said the major reason he lost the 2011 presidential election was because Nigerians did not take his candidature seriously.
Momodu, who ran for President on the platform of the National Conscience Party, garnered less than 30, 000 votes nationwide.
The veteran journalist said this while speaking at the Diamond jubilee symposium in honour of the founder of the Latter Rain Assembly, Pastor Tunde Bakare, in Lagos on Monday.
He said, “One of the things I love about Pastor Tunde Bakare is that he did not restrict himself to activism. I was glad in 2011 when he was Gen. Muhammadu Buhari’s running mate. I, on the other hand, wanted to be President.
“I was serious about my ambition but Nigerians were not serious about it. Some said I lacked experience. Yes, I lack experience in stealing.”
Momodu, while speaking on the theme, ‘The role of journalism in nation building,’ encouraged reporters to also look at the business side of journalism.
He noted that he had been able to use ‘celebrity journalism’ to carve a niche for himself.
He berated Nigerians who accused him of promoting corruption through his brand of journalism.
He said, “The President’s daughter is holding a wedding. Pastor Adeboye gives the sermon, comedian Ali Baba is the MC, D’Banj is the entertainer and then I go to take pictures and cover the event and people then say I am promoting corruption?”
He said Nigerian journalists were not well taken care of, adding that a hungry reporter would not succeed at nation building.
He said, “If you want journalists to build the nation, the nation must build journalists.”
While extolling Bakare who turned 60 on Tuesday, Momodu described the pastor as one of the clerics in the Nigerian society that had never compromised.
He said Bakare was a credit to Christianity and urged other clerics in the country to emulate his uprightness.Punch Reportage
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