play No one knows if Otedola was joking when they said he was running (Instagram) It’s been nearly two months since celebrity journalist Dele Momodu gleefully informed the world that billionaire businessman Femi Otedola is running for the office of Governor of Lagos.
“Breaking news: Lagos 2019 promises to be interesting. PDP offers Femi Otedola governorship ticket. He's accepted and personally confirmed to The Boss newspaper”, Momodu informed thousands of his followers on Twitter.
Everyone went to town with the story afterwards. The mainstream media ran editorials on it, blogs and online news sites curated for fun and this writer even chipped in with an opinion piece on what Otedola’s entry into the Lagos governorship race will mean for this city of 20 million people. How ridiculous and foolish I feel now!
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play DJ Cuppy, Otedola and Dele Momodu (Instagram/BM Pro/ HB Pixels) It’s interesting that Otedola didn’t say a word in confirmation or denial of the story soon after Momodu fed the press and the general public with it. His silence immediately gave everyone the impression that he was indeed running and was waiting for a good time to make it all formal.
Fast forward several weeks after and Otedola is yet to confirm or deny that he is running. In any case, Momodu told us that Otedola will be running on the PDP platform. But like everyone now knows, the PDP has concluded its governorship primary election, with Jimi Agbaje emerging as its flagbearer.
Is Otedola mulling running on another platform? Has he purchased the governorship nomination form of another political party through a proxy? Why is Otedola keeping quiet if he is really serious about running for office?
This week, Lagos PDP godfather, Bode George, tells us that Otedola actually told him he was running. “Otedola told me himself on a flight in April that he’d be running for Lagos Governor”, George said.
play Femi Otedola has left everyone guessing (Dailypost) The one inference we can draw at the moment is that Otedola wasn’t serious about running for governor ab initio. If he considered running, one has got to say he changed his mind just before the primaries—which is totally fine. But why fly the kite when you weren’t serious? Why not tell us you are no longer running rather than keep us hanging?
However, it may be time to question Momodu as well. Anyone who wants to run for the office of governor makes the pronouncement of his intent himself. Why did Momodu declare for Otedola? Who asks a journalist to make a formal declaration on his behalf and why would this journalist put the word out there like he is so certain, when he isn’t? What does all of these say about Momodu’s methods? Recall that it was the same Momodu who arranged this very curious interview with former Petroleum Resources Minister, Diezani Alison-Madueke, in which she told us she is stricken with cancer
