A former presidential spokesperson Dr Doyin Okupe died on Friday, March 7, 2025.
He was 72.
Okupe served as a senior adviser to former President Goodluck Jonathan and later as the Director-General of Peter Obi’s 2023 Presidential Campaign.
Details surrounding his passing remain unclear at the time of filing this report.
Here are things to know about the Ex-presidential aide:
1. Okupe was born on March 22, 1952 in Iperu, Ogun State.
2. He was the son of Chief Matthew Adekoya Okupe, a banker at Agbonmagbe Bank.
3. He attended St. Jude’s School in Lagos, Igbobi College, and the University of Ibadan.
4. He worked at St. Nicholas Hospital and other medical institutions.
5. Okupe co-founded Royal Cross Medical Centre with Dr. Seyi Roberts and Dr. Ladi Okuboyejo and served as the Managing Director of Royal Cross Medical Centre.
6. In 1994, Okupe helped save a gunshot victim’s life alongside Dr. Seyi Roberts.
7. He was the publisher of a health newspaper called Life Mirror.
8. He contested for a House of Representatives seat under the National Party of Nigeria (NPN) in 1983.
9. He served as National Publicity Secretary of the National Republican Convention (NRC) in the 1990s.
10. He was detained under General Sani Abacha’s regime in 1996.
11. He got disqualified from the United Nigeria Congress Party (UNCP) primaries in 1998.
12. Appointed Special Assistant on Media and Publicity to President Olusegun Obasanjo.
13. He contested for Ogun State governorship under People’s Democratic Party (PDP) in 2002.
14. He served as Senior Special Assistant on Public Affairs to President Goodluck Jonathan in 2012.
15. He acted as spokesman for PDP presidential aspirants like Olusegun Obasanjo, Goodluck Jonathan, Bukola Saraki, and Atiku Abubakar.
16. Okupe left PDP in 2017 to join the Accord Party, but was expelled in 2018 for supporting Bukola Saraki’s PDP campaign.
17. He rejoined PDP and became Atiku Abubakar’s campaign spokesman in the 2019 elections.
18. He joined the Labour Party (LP) and briefly served as Peter Obi’s running mate before an ubstantive VP was picked.
19. Okupe was probed by the EFCC in 2012 over unexecuted contracts in Benue and Imo states.
20. In 2019, he supported Atiku Abubakar while his son Ditan Okupe supported Muhammadu Buhari.
21. He survived COVID-19 in 2020 along with his wife.
22. His son, Bolu Okupe, came out as gay in 2021 while living in Paris.
23. Married to Aduralere Okupe, with two children.
24. His brothers were Kunle Okupe, Owo Okupe, Wemi Okupe and Larry Okupe, and his sisters are Aina Okanlawon and Bisola Ayeni.
25. Both he and Bolu later supported Peter Obi’s 2023 presidential campaign.
