Dr. Doyin Okupe was the director general of the Peter Obi Presidential Campaign Organization during the general elections of 2023 and a former presidential special assistant on media and publicity. In this interview, he discusses a number of topics, including the Northern elite’s alignment for power to return to the region in 2027, the accomplishments of President Bola Tinubu’s administration, the reason why Tinubu’s government cannot be held accountable for the previous administration’s actions, and how the hardships that Nigerians have endured as a result of the reforms are only temporary. According to Joy Anigogu,
How do you feel about the North attempting to align that momentum in their favor and positioning themselves for dominance in 2027?
There is more to your question than meets the eye. In actuality, there are stakeholders in this nation and some management practices that date back to 1960. We have managed the nation’s politics in a way that has kept it united, even though we haven’t achieved significant progress economically or in terms of providing for the needs and comforts of the people. As you can see, Olusegun Obasanjo and Olu Falae were the two contenders for that election, thus when Obasanjo was elected president, there was an unspoken national agreement that a person from the Southwest should be the next president. Southwest prevails, so it’s head and tail. The concession made by the country was not in vain. In the immediate aftermath of Abiola’s death, when he was thought to have won an election, the stakeholders believed that the southwest needed to be reassured. Northern interest had no stake in the matter. You know, the people who previously dominated this country’s political affairs were more concerned with the interests of the entire country than with those of any one region. Because we are all pulling in various directions, Nigeria is stagnating, and one of the most basic issues is that we have failed to develop a national elite structure. Speaking especially to your question, I think it’s a positive thing that many young people from the north are getting together. For whatever reason, the North needs its political elites to unite, if only to take on the weight of the masses’ long-standing neglect. But for 2027, we politicians—and I say that with authority, fearing neither ambiguity nor contradiction—are a part of this system. I am a part of this system. I am aware of this system. The north cannot yet regain control in 2027. We don’t do things like that. The north and the south alternate. The south does eight years after the north completes eight years. I’m not arguing that Bola Tinubu has to be president in 2027, but he won’t be from the north. You know, it’s not that. And based on what we’ve observed recently, the easiest thing that some of our northern youth find annoying is the question of whether or not to show up in 2027. We’re going to talk in 2027. You know, this nation was united by mutual understanding, cooperation, and compromise on all fronts—not even via pressure. There were occasions when the North lacked the necessary personnel to cover federal system roles. You know, we have things like federal character because of the admission that the North must be accommodated. We’ve seen situations when someone in the north receives less than 20% of the JAMB score and is accepted because we think the north is educationally disadvantaged, while someone in Abia has a number that prevents them from attending university. This is the way we have managed this nation. With a great deal of cooperation, brotherhood, and patriotism, we have managed our nation. This isn’t dangerous; it’s more like, “Okay, let’s do this.” President Babangida, President Obasanjo, Abdusalam Abubakar, General Ibrahim, and TY Danjuma are a few of the individuals that have overseen this nation’s affairs in terms of maintaining political equilibrium during the past 25 years. They are becoming older, less influential, and taken into consideration less frequently. Regretfully, though, they have failed to produce a younger generation capable of successfully succeeding them, based on the same principles that have allowed this polity to develop into what it is now.
If the North were to run a candidate from the South in 2027, they have stated that the candidate would also wish to serve for eight years, which would go against the eight-year rotation pattern that the North uses to fulfill its presidential allocation. What are your thoughts about that?
A political conundrum exists. The North will be in a bad spot if they choose to run against Bola Tinubu with a candidate from the South. Keep in mind that this is a third-world nation. Suppose you introduce someone fresh, and he prevails. He will not come to any kind of understanding with you. He won’t live for another eight years. Thus, you have prolonged the rotation to the south by an additional four years. Bola Tinubu, what have you done? It’s time to accept this. Bola Tinubu, what have you done? With his very serious reforms, Bola Tinubu has brought the nation out of the predicament it has been in for the last eight to ten years. This is the truth, so I shall state it here. This position has been difficult for this government to express. On the other hand, it is visible to those of us at the outside. In terms of social and economic development, the nation was complete by the time the Bola Tinubu administration took office. We were using 98 percent of our income for debt service, which equates to 98 cents for every dollar earned. We were providing fuel subsidies. We were providing power subsidies. There was almost everything we were subsidizing. The foreign exchange market was rife with arbitrage. However, what actions did the Buhari administration take? They simply printed money and kept printing money till they eventually printed 30 trillion naira. Because the money was still there despite having no backing, Nigerians were indifferent to it. A small number of nations have already taken this action. Therefore, it is not about Nigeria’s wealth. Venezuela is home to one of the world’s biggest crude oil reserves. Venezuela’s poverty is worse than ours. Additionally, I’ll show you something. About $15, $16, or $17 is the likely value of 100 trillion Zimbabwean dollars. Now, Bola Tinubu has rescued Nigeria from this. Bola Tinubu would simply go back and carry on with the previous practices, printing money till, God forbid, we reached this stage, if he wanted to be well-known and sing and do all that. It’s reasonable for people to grumble that the dollar is only worth N1,700, but it might have been worse. With the fuel costing N1,000, it might have been N17,000 instead. It might have been worse. In the absence of these measures, which would have prevented the rising hyperinflation that followed Bola Tinubu’s presidency, the price per liter might have been N3,000 or N4,000. It is wholesomely unfair, and I would almost say cruel, for anyone to criticize this administration after just eighteen months.
There is no denying that the cost of living crisis is real and becoming worse. The last nine and a half years of an All Progressives Congress (APC) government have seen a decline in manufacturing and an increase in economic losses.
I, Duyin Okupe, officially proclaimed the APC to be a group of odd bedfellows when it was first created, thus you are incorrect to claim that it has been in power for nine and a half years. People made fun of me. I was a lot of people’s invention. However, it’s now evident that the APC was composed of a number of political groups, including the All Progressives Grand Alliance (APGA), the Congress of Progressive Change (CPC), and the Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN). Furthermore, these liquids were immiscible. It is the APC government, certainly. In our nation, however, we will need to be able to be more discriminating. For the government that came before him, Bola Tinubu cannot be held accountable. Indeed, some have said that he was the main figure responsible for bringing Buhari to power. An overwhelming majority of Nigerians cheered when Buhari was mentioned as a candidate. As a result, we all thought the general would succeed. It is the child’s issue, not the masquerade’s, according to the Yoruba people, if the infant is unable to dance after the masquerade has already given birth to it. Therefore, current events have shown that what you also mentioned about manufacturing, foreign direct investment, and other related topics is incorrect. The National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) released a report today indicating that the GDP has increased by three points. Additionally, that increase included the manufacturing you indicated.
Compared to the previous year, the manufacturing sector grew more in the last quarter of this year. Additionally, there is an increase in foreign direct investment. Additionally, I mentioned that Buhari printed N30 trillion, which generated interest of almost N7 trillion. And Bola Tinubu has paid that N7 trillion interest. The amount owing to the airlines was approximately $7 billion. Additionally, the cost of Lagos to London or Nigerian travel would have been crippling for the economy, coming to almost N12 million. However, that has been resolved by this administration in less than a year. Evidence of the effectiveness of these implemented measures is starting to emerge. Therefore, the generalization that the APC has ruled for nine and a half years is untrue. Let’s all agree. Let’s be factual. Let us know that this government began here. This is where they claim to be heading. This is their current trajectory. Then, rather than criticizing, discrediting, and demonizing the administration, we help it accomplish its goal.
For the tens of millions of Nigerians who have been forced into extreme poverty and for many of the homeless, the figures you are citing mean nothing at all. What do you believe can reverse that and inspire support for the Tinubu administration?
In the first case, an administration’s maximum lifespan is four years. Is it possible to cure a rottenness that has been there for more than eight years in eight months? No, it can’t. Since we are experiencing selective amnesia, especially among elites, I believe that anyone who wished to run for president following a Buhari administration must have gone insane. Our nation was neglected on all levels—socially, economically, and financially—for eight years. However, there were no threats throughout those eight years. No grievances were raised. Everyone was silent. Acquiescence was the norm everywhere. Now that someone has taken over this rottenness, you simply indicated that there is a lot of youth unrest in the North before he has even had a chance to sit down. For the past nine years or more, the number of youngsters in the North who are not in school has been rising. There are over 20 million youngsters that are not in school today. The Almajiri schools constructed by President Goodluck Jonathan were left in ruins. This level of unrest and restiveness would not have existed if the Almajiri schools had been permitted to take in some of the street children. Can you honestly declare that Bola Tinubu is to blame for all of this? That would be genuine to your conscience and to yourself. That’s not accurate. It’s not true. We have a reformer in the villa, I told you, someone who says, I have stepped out and I’m not coming back, and who is not desperate for fame or power. I accept responsibility and will work to reform our nation, and he is doing just that. It took 31 years for Lee Kuan Yew to change Singapore.
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As a former special adviser to two past presidents, Obasanjo and Jonathan, do you believe that, generally speaking, Nigerians’ possibilities and prospects have improved or deteriorated since then?
I am a testimony for Christ, an evangelist, and a Christian. I don’t want to be a minister or a commissioner or anything, therefore I’m not going to stand here for any purpose. I therefore stand to lose little. My only argument is that I want the nation to advance and prosper. And I’m not immediately against the individual who’s there at the moment. In actuality, chances have long since passed and moved out of perspective. Now that the foundations have been established, new opportunities are being generated. Would you like to discuss the children whose parents’ lack of financial means prevented them from attending school? The fact that they are unable to even feed will have made it worse. As a result, many more of our young people will be unable to enroll in higher education. Poverty is no longer a problem or a reason not to get an education according to Bola Tinubu. He made a commitment in his agenda to establish a lending fund, which is currently operational. There are numerous youth-oriented programs, and numerous financing initiatives are now underway. Time will be needed. I am aware of Nigerians’ suffering. In actuality, it is not Tinubu pain, despite the fact that they refer to it as T-pain, which is Tinubu pain. The gain is everlasting, but the anguish is momentary. There are never any reforms that are underway that do not include some short-term discomfort. No gains can be made if there are no pains. Everyone has to experience this. My late brother lived at Okupe Estate during the construction of Ikorodu Road, and I have vivid memories of him arriving home every day at 1:30 and 2:30 in the morning. They endured pain. His family isn’t the only one involved. Numerous individuals on that axis suffered. We take twelve minutes to travel to Ikorodu Road today, nevertheless. During that time, Metropolis underwent building, for which a generation paid and suffered. Therefore, a generation will have to endure some short-term suffering in order for subsequent generations and even those who are still alive to benefit from far more lasting benefits. Bola Tinubu has a dilemma because there were four main contenders in the election, and it is hard to get enough votes to win a majority when there are strong contenders like that. With almost 37% of the vote, the Bola Tinubu administration won. As a result, those who oppose him, have lost, are naturally African, and are bad losers are stoking the flames of criticism, claiming that he has abandoned us. Now that the elections are done, Nigerians need to return and examine the governance. Let’s examine what is being done objectively, critically, and without bias.
