As the politics and intrigue surrounding the 2027 presidential election continue to ramp up and are expected to be a horse race among traditional political heavyweights, there are notable former presidential spokespersons who will not look out of place should they decide to come to the party to stake a claim for the office of president.
Undoubtedly, anything is possible in politics. And because the game is not for the fainthearted, these spokespersons will likely not struggle when they try to adapt to the rigours and pressure associated with the office of president. And this, simply put, is because their wealth of experience, adaptability and exposure will come in handy when the chips are down.
Therefore, for these spokespersons, contesting for the highest office in the land and vying to earn the support of Nigerians will surely be one of the most profound honours bestowed on them by Nigerians.
Thus, in no particular order, importance or preference, they are Dele Momodu, Reno Omokri, Femi Fani-Kayode and Daniel Bwala.
Of course, they all come from the southern part of Nigeria, except Bwala, and may have to deal with the country’s unwritten rotational presidency arrangement. Despite this, however, if they were to have individual presidential ambition, it would no doubt be judged legitimate and in order.
DELE MOMODU
60-year-old Momodu is a reputable journalist and publisher of Ovation International, a magazine that celebrates distinguished Nigerians and their accomplishments. The Osun state-born politician is a successful businessman.
A proper thoroughbred, Momodu has a Master of Art degree in English Literature from the prestigious Obafemi Awolowo University, Ile-Ife.
The likeable Momodu was an aspirant in the 2011 presidential election under the Labour Party. The party, at the time, was not yet a powerhouse and Momodu was mocked for wasting his time chasing shadows.
The LP eventually chickened out of the presidential election and endorsed then-President Goodluck Jonathan of the Peoples Democratic Party.
Momodu, undeterred, found a new home in the National Conscience Party, and like in the LP, he purchased his new party’s expression of interests form. He then doggedly pursued and got the party’s nomination ticket.
Even though Momodu did not win the 2011 presidential election proper, he had announced himself as a force to be reckoned with and when he later decamped to the PDP, it did not surprise anyone when he began to eye the 2023 presidency.
When all was said and done, Atiku beat Momodu and others to the coveted PDP presidential primary ticket and remarkably in that primary, Momodu had zero votes from delegates.
Momodu held his head high after that crushing blow to his ambition and it did not take long before the presidential campaign council of the PDP made him the Director of campaign on strategic communications.
After his appointment, many Nigerians wondered why a man of high political calibre like Momodu would accept to be a spokesperson for a party, arguing that it should have been the presidency or bust.
RENO OMOKRI
Omokri is a controversial social media influencer who calls himself “table shaker” because of his penchant for stating facts and rubbing it in.
“During the campaigns, Fani-Kayode was one of Tinubu’s spokespersons who took no prisoners. He hit Tinubu’s detractors so hard that it surprised not a few Nigerians that he was not considered for the role of federal minister”
The 50-year-old Itsekiri, Delta State-born bestselling author and pastor is an alumnus of the University of Wolverhampton. He obtained a degree in Law there.
Having lived most of his youthful life abroad, Omokri returned to Nigeria to serve as Special Assistant on Digital Media to former president Goodluck Jonathan from 2011 to 2015.
Omokri, who has thus far been a member of the PDP, has never hidden his desire to see the former ruling party take the wheel of national politics. He supports Atiku for president in 2027.
Many say that Omokri will always side with Atiku because he (Omokri) first worked for the Waziri Adamawa in Aso Rock before Jonathan requested for his services. And for his consistency, Omokri’s supporters have told him that loyalty to somebody should not stop him from aspiring to be president.
Meanwhile, Omokri has been a thorn in the flesh of former Labour Party presidential candidate, Peter Obi, who Omokri says did not initiate, start, complete and commission any school at all in Anambra State throughout his tenure as governor there.
In the same vein, Omokri also declared that Obi did not build any Independent Power Project after the latter vented frustration at the news that another country, Tanzania, was allegedly generating more electricity than Nigeria.
While reacting to Obi in a post on X, Omokri elucidated what he would have done differently in Anambra state and started his opening statement with: If I were a Governor of a state like Anambra.
As it is, some Nigerians are now urging him to stop dreaming but have a presidential ambition that is a notch above his governorship ambition.
FEMI FANI-KAYODE
He was born 63 years ago into the famous Fani-Kayode family of Osun State. Like his father and grandfather before him, Fani-Kayode studied Law in the United Kingdom and is no pushover in the political dynamics of Nigeria.
Fani-Kayode was a member of the National Democratic Coalition. He went into exile during the tyrannical military junta of the late Sani Abacha. He has paid his dues to ensure that democracy did not die in Nigeria.
In 2001, Fani-Kayode returned to Nigeria armed with his eloquence and oratory skills and he was engaged as one of the spokespersons spearheading the charge for former president Olusegun Obasanjo’s reelection in 2023.
That venture paid off and Fani-Kayode was made Special Assistant for Public Affairs to Obasanjo from 2003 to 2006. He was thereafter appointed Minister of Culture and Tourism and later Minister of Aviation.
Originally of the PDP, Fani-Kayode’s stewardship as Minister would come under the radar of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission. After the chips were down, he was discharged and acquitted by a Federal High Court which sat in Lagos on all money laundering charges.
Before Fani-Kayode decamped to the APC, a former Lagos state Chairman of the Christian Association of Nigeria, the late Alex Bamgbola, had during an occasion in Lagos, prayed for Fani-Kayode – who was on his knees – telling him that he would one day rule Nigeria.
Bamgbola said, “If you do not compromise yourself, God said I should tell you, you will one day rule this nation.”
Fani-Kayode was, in 2022, made the Director, New Media of the APC Presidential Campaign Council.
During the campaigns, Fani-Kayode was one of Tinubu’s spokespersons who took no prisoners. He hit Tinubu’s detractors so hard that it surprised not a few Nigerians that he was not considered for the role of federal minister.
Nigerians are now advising Fani-Kayode to take his destiny in his hands and bring Bamgbola’s prophetic prayer to pass.
DANIEL BWALA
Bwala is from the Northeastern state of Adamawa and is a former spokesperson for the 2023 Atiku/Okowa Presidential Campaign Organisation. To his credit, He did a yeoman’s job in his criticism of Tinubu and the APC.
A seasoned lawyer and lecturer, Bwala had actually been with the APC before he was made a spokesperson in the PDP. It had irked him that the APC made Kashim Shettima, a Muslim like Tinubu, the party’s presidential running mate.
Bwala, who loathed the Muslim-Muslim ticket, then decided to withdraw his support for the former Lagos state Governor.
He was swiftly drafted into the PDP after he did his about-turn. He was thereafter given the plum job of spokesperson and used his newfound role to captivate Nigerians with his erudition and insight into topical issues.
Because success has many fathers and failure is an orphan, Bwala decided to re-embrace Tinubu after the presidential election was won and lost. And as he continued to establish good rapport with the president, it became obvious that Bwala would ditch the PDP.
Atiku eventually disassociated himself from Bwala. He told journalists that Bwala was not his aide, but a spokesperson for his campaign.
While Bwala’s transition to being an advocate for the president has gone on unhindered and without so much fuss, some Nigerians have continued to insist, most time on Bwala’s comment section on social media, that he ought to consider giving the presidency a shot in 2027.
To their chagrin, however, the embattled Bwala has chosen to remain mum on that subject.
