A former Director-General of the Labour Party (LP) Presidential Campaign Council, Dr Doyin Okupe, says he is not a member of the ruling APC but appreciates the bold reforms being implemented by President Bola Tinubu.
Okupe, a former presidential spokesperson, disclosed this on his X handle (formerly Twitter) while reacting to criticisms over his appreciation of Tinubu’s initiatives.
The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that Okupe has been criticised for always supporting, advising, and praising every government in power since 1999.
Okupe had served as an aide to former President Olusegun Obasanjo and then Goodluck Jonathan as a PDP member.
He later joined Labour Party to support the presidential bid of Peter Obi for the 2023 elections.
Okupe said, “I am neither a member of the APC nor an adviser of the administration.
“I appreciate the bold initiatives President Bola Tinubu took to remove fuel subsidy, which was assented to by all candidates during the campaign.
“I also fully support the sectoral equalisation of our forex market.
“Both reforms are responsible for the hardship our people are currently experiencing, but which I believe will be temporary judging by the strenuous efforts the government is making towards ameliorating them.
“This is not praise singing. I do not count myself as a member of the opposition; hence, I am able to be objective and understandingly supportive.
“I may not have had a hand in installing this govt but it is my country, and I am a stakeholder in it. I do not pray for it to crash or go down. This cannot be an offence.”
He urged his critics, especially a PDP chieftain, Mr Dele Momodu, to stop being personal in their criticisms.
“We are all practitioners, players, and known actors in this amphitheater, no need to go personal. Let’s keep criticism rational, mature, and professional,” he added.
Okupe said that it was not true that he had been praising every government since 1999.
He said that he only acted as adviser in Obasanjo’s administration, which he described as one of the most successful since the advent of the fourth republic.
Okupe said that he did not play any significant role in the succeeding administration of late President Umaru Yar Adua.
The former presidential spokesman said that he, however, became an adviser for the second time in the Jonathan administration, which was defeated by the former President Muhammadu Buhari-led APC.
According to Okupe, his association with former Senate President Bukola Saraki and Peter Obi is in no way different from Momodu’s current association with former Vice President Atiku Abubakar. (NAN)
