He has a profile which many crave. A look through his social media pages shows him having a chat with the Queen of England. In another photo on Wikipedia, he is seen shaking hands with former United States Presidents, George Bush and Bill Clinton. This is the sort of journalism Momodu has practised since he left the defunct African Concord magazine some 30 years ago.
Momodu was a media adviser to the Presidential campaign of the late MKO Abiola, the billionaire businessman and acclaimed winner of the 12 June 12 1993 election which was controversially annulled by the military regime. After getting wind of his imminent arrest by the General Sani Abacha junta, he escaped through the Nigeria-Benin Republic land border disguised as a farmer, making his way through to Togo, Ghana and then the United Kingdom where he eventually set up his Ovation International magazine.
It was while in exile in the 90s that he teamed up with other pro-democracy forces like All Progressives Congress (APC) leader, Bola Tinubu; the Speaker of the House of Representatives, Femi Gbajabiamila; and Ekiti State Governor, Kayode Fayemi. Around the same time, he helped found ThisDay newspaper in Nigeria, becoming its pioneer editor.
Momodu’s style of celebrity journalism was new to Nigerians.
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