Former Campaign Director of Peter Obi, the Labour Party (LP) Presidential Candidate in the 2023 elections, Dr. Doyin Okupe, has submitted that Nigeria’s current President Bola Ahmed Tinubu was the best of the competitors.
Insisting that one year was too short to judge the current administration, Okupe assured Nigerians that Tinubu would grow better with time, despite the unprecedented hardship Nigerians were suffering.
Himself a one-time presidential aspirant and Media Adviser to President Olusegun Obasanjo (whose PDP government Atiku served as Vice President), the medical doctor spoke during an interview on Channels TV on Friday night, June 7.
Okupe served as the Director-General of the Labour Party Presidential Campaign Organisation in the 2023 general elections.
According to him, the benefit of hindsight gave him the opportunity to realise that Tinubu was best for the job.
He said: “Let me tell you, of all the people that actually ran for President in 2023, by the benefit of hindsight, Bola Tinubu is the best. I have seen Peter Obi, I have been with Atiku Abubakar, I also knew Bola Tinubu many years ago. I have not seen him in the last 7 to 8 years, that is not the point but he is the best in terms of capability, commitment and knowledge.”
Okupe went on to say said Nigerians must not judge the Tinubu administration as they judged past administrations because he came in after it seemed like governance was ‘’abandoned for eight years.”
Challenged about his statement not amounting to a betrayal of his former ally, Obi, whom he campaigned for in 2023, Okupe disagreed.
According to him, his support for Obi was borne out of the mutual belief they had that a Southerner should be the President which led to their exit from the PDP.
Okupe resigned from his role with Obi’s LP team shortly after the 2023 election, citing ideological differences.
