Wike’s Aide Blasts Dele Momodu Over June 12 Comments, Says He Needs Urgent Rehabilitation

Senior Special Assistant on Public Communications and Social Media to the Minister of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), Nyesom Wike, Mr. Lere Olayinka, has lashed out at media mogul and publisher of Ovation magazine, Dele Momodu, describing him as someone “in urgent need of deliverance and rehabilitation.”

Olayinka made the remark in a statement on Thursday while reacting to Momodu’s comments during a television interview on Wednesday.

The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) chieftain, Momodu, had questioned Wike’s relevance during Nigeria’s pro-democracy June 12 struggle, saying: “Where was Wike during the June 12 struggle? Who knew him then? But today, he speaks as if he’s the founding father.”

Firing back, Olayinka queried Momodu’s own historical standing: “Where was Dele Momodu too when Nigeria was being founded? Was he among the founding fathers of Nigeria to be living in the country?”

Describing Momodu’s recent remarks as the rantings of a troubled mind, Olayinka said: “The mental case of the PDP chieftain appears to have graduated from psychology to psychosis, such that he now sees Wike in everything he does, even in his sleep.”

He accused Momodu of exploiting the June 12 struggle for personal gain rather than genuine activism. “In Dele Momodu’s warped mindset, those who were not part of the June 12 struggle are not entitled to speak about democracy in Nigeria.

By that logic, those who were not part of the independence struggle should not live in the country,” Olayinka said.

He further alleged that Momodu “only used the June 12 struggle to Japa (escape abroad). He didn’t struggle for anything other than his own well-being.”

Olayinka also slammed Momodu’s Ovation Photo Book, claiming it glorified the family of the same military rulers who detained the late MKO Abiola, the symbol of the June 12 struggle.

“Those who genuinely fought for June 12 didn’t model the children of Abiola’s jailers for any photo book, nor did they run around visiting mansions of military generals for glossy photographs, as Dele Momodu did,” he alleged.

Concluding his statement, Olayinka declared: “When the register of true June 12 heroes is opened, those like Dele Momodu, who merely hustled with the struggle for personal benefit, should stop forcing their names into it.”