Okupe: In 2015, it is either Goodluck or bad luck
Doyin Okupe, the senior special assistant to the president on public affairs, says the man who would emerge president of Nigeria after the 2015 presidential election is either “Gooodluck or bad luck”.
Okupe, who was speaking on Wednesday at a presentation of Jonathan’s candidature in Lagos, also said the government was in full control of the insecurity situation in the country.
Alleging that the insurrection in the northeast has led to unfair attacks on the government, he questioned the motives of some of those trying to find out the steps that government is taking to tackle insurgency.
“The issue of insurgency cannot be and would not be a national referendum for 2015. We didn’t cause this war but we inherited it,”
“Insurgency is something that is extremely very big; our soldiers have to be retrained and the process of retraining is taking place. So when I tell you that we are going to win the war against Boko Haram, know that it is not fiction.
“People are saying we don’t know what the government is doing. How can you know what the government is doing on the issue of war? Nobody talks about security in public, so people should stop disturbing us on what we are doing.
“We don’t even know if those disturbing us are working for Boko Haram. American government pursued Bin Laden for 10 years, did you see it in the papers?”
Claiming that Jonathan has performed above expectation, Okupe urged Nigerians to rally round the president. He said the battle line for 2015 had been drawn and alleged that the All Progressives Congress (APC) has no plans for the country.
“I have worked closely with presidents. Till date, I remain the only Nigerian who has worked as spokesman for two presidents and I can say Goodluck Jonathan is the very best. I do not speak about Jonathan because of money; I am not a sycophant,” he said.
“Jonathan bears a lot of burden for this nation. Many of the faults that we blame him for, we who are on the inside know what the problems are. Gowon said that to keep Nigeria one is a war that must be won.
“Some members of the opposition are deaf but we are not bothered. They say we are doing nothing. Their presidential candidate has made speeches everywhere. I have watched his speeches and discovered that he has said nothing but I am not surprised because if your mind is empty, your mouth would be empty.
“No more speculations about 2015. It has been narrowed to two candidates in Nigeria. It is between Goodluck Ebele Jonathan and Muhammadu Buhari. The choice in this election is clear. It is crystal clear; it is either Goodluck or bad luck.”
Reacting to the controversy generated over a statement he made on Monday during Sunrise Daily, a breakfast progamme on Channels Television, Okupe claimed he was quoted out of contest.
Nigerians, particularly on social media, had lashed out at him over the statement.
“On Channels Television, they claimed I said Goodluck is Jesus Christ. I didn’t say so,” he said.
“I am a deeply religious person and I’m proud to be one. There is nothing that I depend on but God. How can I blaspheme against Jesus Christ? Impossible.
“In Christendom, what they tell us is to ‘be like Christ’. There’s no offence for us to compare ourselves with our Lord Jesus Christ. I said Jonathan bears a lot of burden for this nation and he’s bearing it well. Let detractors go and sleep.”
PDP and the managers of the President’s campaign must focus on the President’s positives. The more you try to rebut what the opposition is saying, the more you draw attention to it. Insurgency has been dealt a big blow in the last month or so, and that for me is remarkable. Retraining and properly equipping the forces should and will sustain it.
There are fundamental lapses in the opposition’s approach of short-cut to power and there is yet no evidence that APC states are better governed than PDP states. Infact, the the contrary may be the case. But the opposition’s strategy of trying to place the underwhelming performance of governments (with the exception of very few) at all levels at the president’s doorstep is something you cannot deny them, deceitful as it may be. It’s all politics as they say.
One thing counting against the president is that the PDP has been in power for 15 years and people want change. While a change in personality may be symbolic, it is a change in approach and results that people are yearning for. Fortunately for PDP, the two are not coterminous and it can and should deliver a change in approach and results.
Nigeria is better off with a big, organized opposition. But the opposition should not expect to have power just by criticizing the president. It has to demonstrate what it can offer, and so far it has delivered a man incapable of democratic practices as presidential candidate and another without political pedigree as vice presidential candidate. That combination is worrisome. If the proof of the pudding is in the eating, the taste of the opposition’s first meal is sour.
You are a Jonathan apologist, simple. It’s obvious that you are jittery over what awaits your man in 2015.
Okupe just confirmed that we have been having bad luck all along and it is only in 2015 that we are going to get goodluck. In any case we don’t need those who rule only by being lucky, we need competent and purposeful administrators.
It was ‘if not Obasanjo in 2003 no one else’. Now it is ‘if not Goodluck 2015 it gonna be Bad luck’. There is no problem Brother Doyin or whatever, the impending rain will not just touch a roof and spare others…………I mean the anticipated ‘bad luck’ as prophesied by Prophet Okupe.