Dr Doyin Okupe is a former senior special adviser on public affairs to former President Goodluck Jonathan. The erstwhile spokesman of former President Olusegun Obasanjo recently indicated his intention to run for the position of Nigeria’s president come 2023. In this exclusive interview, he explained why he is interested in that position and his plans for Nigeria.
You have indicated interest to run for presidency come 2023. What is motivating you?
I am personally and intensively motivated by myself and the condition I see in the country. I am in the race to save the lives of Nigerians, reduce the suffering of the poor, provide for the needy, repair and re-unite Nigeria, expand its economic base and generally make life worthy to live. That’s my mission. We are not safe today and I am afraid that only God can help us, such that before 2023 we won’t have a major crisis that would be caused by hunger.
Today, N1,000 is not enough to feed anybody. The elites are joking. We don’t have the luxury. There is a major crisis here already, and it is a non-partisan thing. One person is not to blame. There is a cumulative problem in Nigeria, and if we don’t quickly attend to it, we may all be in jeopardy. I have written to the president in private, stating that I was afraid that if certain steps are not taken, the 2023 elections would not even take place. Who is going to even run?
Having zoned the chairmanship slot to the North, the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) is yet to expressly zone its presidential ticket to the South as provided in its constitution. Some say it will be left open to the two zones. What is really happening?
There are plural arguments by those who insist that the presidency should not come to the South. It is different in the All Progressives Congress (APC)–they have no choice but to have a southern candidate. In the PDP they are saying there is a sort of shortchanging for the North. It is true, but even though the PDP prides itself as the bastion of zoning, which is a veritable instrument for national unity, the moment we lost election in 2015 and our last candidate was a southerner, the regular consideration for zoning expired at that point. If we had kept on winning, it would have been different. But since there was a break because we didn’t win, and a northerner from another party took over, it is inconceivable to say that another northerner would become president for another eight years.
There are many bigwigs in the PDP who are warming up for the presidency. What are your chances, and what would you do differently if given the mandate?
I will leave my chances for Nigerians to decide, but what I will do will be unprecedented. If God gives me a chance, I am coming mainly for the poor. Since 1960 we have not had a government that has the driving force to cater for the poor. Some have done their best, but now is the time to look at the poor. What makes Nigeria the poverty capital of the world has to be stopped. Poverty will endanger the existence of Nigeria. The entire North is in conflagration and it is poverty, sustained human neglect and disparity in wealth distribution that are behind it. Poverty endangers prosperity. This is not a keg of gunpowder, it is an explosion.
Anybody who attempts to solve the problem of the North will solve the problem of Nigeria. The North has a vast land mass, and in numbers, high population indices, the highest in West Africa.
My first job as president will be to enact a marshal plan for the North with a minimum of N500billion as special fund every year for the next four years, in an attempt to attack and kill poverty.
On banditry, you have to take a realistic attitude. I will first internationalise terrorism because Nigeria does not have enough power, both military and financial resources, to fight terrorism. Empirical military consideration tells you that if you are going to fight insurgency, you need to have people to secure the victory. Whatever the number of insurgents, you must have 300 per cent more. So I will go to the United Nations (UN) and African Union (AU) etc and ask for help. But I will ask the insurgents to come and talk. However, after establishing power, we will also try to rehabilitate them; that is the only way we can have peace. There is the need to heal the country and reunite the people.
The problem is money. People are criticising Buhari, that he is borrowing, but he has no choice. There are things to be done and it is either you beg, borrow or steal, life must continue. So Buhari cannot stop borrowing. We need to at least double our revenue. I also intend to do massive agriculture, to cultivate, if possible, between 500,000 to 1 million hectares of land every year. Not that the government will be doing the business, the main problem is land clearing. I am going to shield the farmer from the take-off expenditure to clear off the land. Nigerians want to do things the same way and expect different results. Anybody who wants to help this country must take radical steps; I am prepared for it.
A gale of defections has hit your party, the PDP. Are you not worried that your chances of reclaiming power in 2023 are slim?
I am worried because it makes competition harder and the assurances of winning less certain. But if we work hard, we will make it in 2023.
Don’t you think the emergence of a third force would affect the chances of the PDP at the polls?
There is nothing like third force. That is not a correct definition. A proper definition will be based on the existing political infrastructures of the leading political parties. Most Nigerians are not happy with the APC and are looking for an alternative, and that is the PDP. And with the PDP, they are not really sure, for obvious reasons. So if a third force crystallises, that may give people a choice. And that is my fear.
Will you agree to any consensus arrangement within your party that does not favour you?
In Nigeria, leaders are selected and nobody asks questions. This is a new dispensation and Nigerians must come to terms with it. We must know what you want to do so that we compare it with those of your peers. I am certain of the stuff I am bringing.
(Daily Trust)
