Former director-general of Labour Party (LP) presidential campaign, Doyin Okupe has said his commitment to Peter Obi, 2023 presidential candidate and former Governor of Anambra state, ended after supreme court ruled on the election.
Gatekeepers News reports that Mahmood Yakubu, chairman of Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), declared Bola Ahmed Tinubu, All Progressives Congress (APC) candidate, the winner of 2023 presidential election.
Recall that Tinubu had a total of 8,794,726 votes, while Atiku Abubakar of Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) had 6,984,520 votes, and Obi had 6,101,533 votes.
Subsequently, Obi and Abubakar filed petitions to challenge Tinubu’s win, but the seven-member panel of the apex court dismissed them.
The politician resigned his membership of LP in January this year, citing ” ideological grounds” as his reason for leaving the party.
Okupe spoke on his political relationship with the former Governor of Anambra state through a post on his official account on Sunday.
The politician revealed he had agreed with Obi never to accept any political appointment from him if he had won the election.
He said, “supported Peter Obi out of a commitment to patriotism and nationalistic fervour, not because I don’t know who I am in national politics or where I come from.”
“I told Peter Obi, and we both agreed, that I would not hold any position in his government if he won. Obi is alive, kindly verify. If it is not true, let Obi publicly say that I am lying.”
“Obi and I left the PDP because we both agreed and believed that the next President must be a Southerner, preferably an Igbo man from the South-East.”
“Unfortunately, we lost that election. Another Southerner, Bola Tinubu, won the election. This is God’s will. He gives power to whom He wishes. My political commitment and agreement with Obi ended and expired there.”
“I am too experienced in this game of politics for my subsequent political disposition and destiny to be tied to Obi’s ambition.”
“For me, that cooperation ended with the Supreme Court judgment, right or wrong. There must be order in a society.”
“To me, the allegations of rigging do not hold water. All elections in Nigeria from the 1st Republic to date have been rigged in one way or another, except perhaps Abiola’s election.”
“In America today, the majority of Republicans believe the election that brought Biden in as POTUS was rigged.”
“However, the Americans did not bring down their country because of that. They patiently waited for the next election and are making efforts to correct the imperfections.”
Okupe further revealed that he supported Obi due to his conviction that the presidency would go to the South.
He said, “I was convinced in my heart that if the presidency was going to the South, then it must be an Igbo man from the South-East because I believe in equity and justice.”
“You can also verify this with Papa Adebanjo. He is still alive. I did not support Obi because he was politically superior to me or because he was a friend or an associate.”
“My unalloyed support and commitment to Obi was based on principle. Throughout my period as a DG campaign, I used my own car and never received one naira from Obi as a salary.”
“It was a mutual friend who funded me personally throughout. This can be verified. In difficult times, I borrowed a substantial amount of money to ensure our zonal campaign in the South-West was a grand success. I was refunded by Peter Obi months later.”
“You (Obidients) all hailed, praised, and honoured me because, in your understanding, you believed I was just a foolish politician who left his comfort zone to come and help you fulfil your own agenda. You were all wrong.”
Okupe resigned his membership of the LP in January citing ” ideological grounds” as the reason for his departure from the party.
