The publisher of Ovation Magazine, Dele Momodu, has revealed an aspirant gave $30,000 to each of the 774 delegates during the 2022 Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) presidential primary.
Speaking on the Key to Keys podcast show, Momodu expressed regret over spending nearly N50 million to purchase the PDP presidential nomination form, describing the primary as heavily monetised.
He also stated he would not contest for any party’s presidential ticket unless adopted as a consensus candidate.
He said, “No, experience is the best teacher, and I have come to realise that there are powers you can describe as principalities that control Nigeria.
“Unless a major political party decides to adopt me through a consensus that Dele Momodu is best suited to change and lead Nigeria, then I can consider it.
“But if I have to pick my money to go and buy a presidential nomination form of about N100 million and the last one I spent about N50 million buying the form. This could have gotten me a property and it was a waste, nobody voted for me – not even one vote because everything was monetized.
“There was one of the candidates who paid as high as $30,000 per delegate and we had 774 delegates, so how do you compete with them? They have stolen the country blind and doing all kinds of deals to make money, especially those in the oil-rich areas.
“It’s not easy and that’s why you can’t compete with them – that’s why they insult Nigerians anyhow because of the amount of money available to them in raw cash. There is no country in the world where people control raw cash like Nigeria.
“The bulk of their money is not in any bank so they are not traceable. If today you ask some politicians that look you need $500 million to become a President, they will find it. So people like us where will I start from? I’m not bothered.”