Prior to the general elections of 2023, Dr. Doyin Okupe served as the director general of the Peter Obi Presidential Campaign Organization and as the president’s special assistant for 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 fact that the hardships Nigerians have endured as a result of the reforms are only temporary, and the fact that Tinubu’s government cannot be held accountable for the previous administration’s actions. Joy Anigogu tells
What do you think of the North’s attempts to align that movement in their favor and their posture for dominance in 2027?
It’s not that simple to answer your query. The fact is that this country has stakeholders and has been managed in certain ways since 1960. Even while the nation hasn’t achieved significant progress in terms of economic development or the supply of amenities that would suit or make the people happy, we have managed politics in a way that has kept the nation united. I would like to remind you that, when Olusegun Obasanjo was elected president, there was an unspoken national agreement that a person from the Southwest should be the next president. This is because, if you look at it, Obasanjo and Olu Falae were the two candidates. Southwest prevails in a head-to-tail match. It wasn’t for nothing that the country made that compromise. The reason for this was that the stakeholders believed that the southwest needed to be reassured right after Abiola’s death, when he was thought to have won an election. Northern interest had nothing to do with it. You know, national interest was more important to those in charge of this country’s political affairs in the past than sectional interest. And because we are all pulling in different directions, Nigeria is stagnating, making our inability to develop a national elite system one of the most basic issues. To answer your question explicitly, I think it’s great that so 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 decades-long neglect of the masses. However, I am a part of this system for 2027, and I declare it authoritatively, without fear of equivocation or disagreement. This system includes me. This system makes sense to me. Power has not yet returned to the north in 2027. We don’t do things that way. Between the north and the south, we alternate. After the north completes eight years, the south completes eight years. Bola Tinubu won’t be a Northerner, but I’m not saying he has to be president in 2027. You know that’s not it. Furthermore, based on recent observations, the easiest thing that some of our northern youth find annoying is the query, “Okay, we’ll show our hand in 2027.” Let’s talk in 2027. You know, cooperation, understanding, and compromise on all fronts—not even coercion—brought this nation together. The North occasionally lacked the necessary personnel to cover open positions in the federal system. We would have things like federal character if there had been a compromise that the North had to make. Even if someone in Abia receives a JAMB score that prevents them from attending university, there have been instances where someone in the north receives less than 20% of that score and gets accepted because we think the north is educationally underprivileged. We have operated our nation in this manner. We have managed this nation with a great deal of cooperation, brotherhood, and patriotism. It’s not that intimidating; it’s more like, “Okay, let’s do this.” TY Danjuma, Abdusalam Abubakar, General Ibrahim, President Babangida, and President Obasanjo 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, losing their influence, and becoming less and less taken into account. Unfortunately—and I hate to say this—they have failed to produce an elite class, a younger generation capable of successfully succeeding them on the same foundations that have allowed this polity to develop into what it is today.
It would violate the eight-year rotation plan for the North to fulfill its presidential allotment, according to the North, if they were to run a Southern candidate in 2027, who would likewise desire to serve for eight years. How do you feel about that?
It is a political minefield. The North will have shot itself in the leg if they choose to run against Bola Tinubu with a different candidate from the South. Remember, this is a third-world nation. Let’s say you introduce someone new, and he succeeds. He won’t come to an arrangement with you. It won’t be another eight years for him. Thus, you simply added four more years to the rotation’s lifespan to the south. What has been done by Bola Tinubu? This is something we need to accept. What has been done by Bola Tinubu? Bola Tinubu has introduced significant measures that will help the nation escape the predicament it has been in for the last eight to ten years. Since this is the reality, I shall state it here. This position has not been able to be expressed by this government. However, it is visible to those of us seeing from the outside. The nation had reached the point of social and economic completion at the time the Bola Tinubu administration took office. We were spending 98 percent of our income, and debt service accounted for 98 cents of every dollar. Fuel was being subsidized by us. Power was being subsidized by us. We were paying for almost everything. In the foreign currency market, there was a lot of arbitrage. What, then, did the Buhari government do? They simply went ahead and created money and kept printing money until they had 30 trillion naira. Nigerians were therefore unaffected because the money was still accessible despite having no collateral. A few nations have previously taken this action. So, Nigeria’s wealth is not the issue. One of the world’s biggest reserves of crude oil is found in Venezuela. Venezuela is more impoverished than we are. I’ll show you something, too. A hundred trillion Zimbabwean dollars is most likely worth $15, $16, or $17. Bola Tinubu has now prevented Nigeria from experiencing this. Bola Tinubu would simply return to the previous course of action and keep printing money till, God forbid, we reached this stage if he wanted to be well-known and sing and do all that. People have legitimately complained to me that the dollar is only N1,700, but it could have been worse. That fuel costs N1,000, and it could have cost N17,000 instead. It might have been worse. If these reforms had not been implemented, they would have prevented the rising hyperinflation that followed Bola Tinubu’s presidency, which may have resulted in prices of N3,000 or N4,000 per liter. I would almost say that it is immoral for anyone to criticize this administration after just 18 months in office. It is wholesomely unfair.
Unquestionably, the cost of living crisis is real and is having a severe impact. Over the past nine and a half years of an All Progressives Congress (APC) government, manufacturing is failing and economic losses are increasing.
You are incorrect in assuming that after nine and a half years of APC rule, I, Duyin Okupe, openly referred to the party as a collection of odd bedfellows when it was first established. They made fun of me. Many people coined the term “I.” However, it is now evident that the APC was composed of a number of political factions, including the All Progressives Grand Alliance (APGA), the Congress of Progressive Change (CPC), and the Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN). These liquids were also immiscible. Indeed, the APC is in power. However, we will need to be able to be more discriminating in this country. It is impossible to hold Bola Tinubu accountable for the government that was in place before him. Indeed, there have been arguments that he was the main figure responsible for Buhari’s rise to power. More over half of Nigeria’s people cheered when Buhari was mentioned as a candidate. Therefore, we all thought the general would perform well. According to the Yoruba, if the masquerade has already given birth to a child and the child is unable to dance, it is the child’s issue rather than the masquerade’s. Recent events have therefore shown that your statements regarding manufacturing, foreign direct investment, and other related topics are incorrect. According to a report released today by the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS), the GDP has increased by three points or so. And a big part of that expansion was the manufacturing you indicated.
In the final quarter of this year, the manufacturing sector grew more than it did the year before. Additionally, foreign direct investment is rising. As I previously mentioned, Buhari printed N30 trillion, which generated interest of almost N7 trillion. The interest that Bola Tinubu paid was N7 trillion. Approximately $7 billion was owing to the airlines. Additionally, it would have hindered Nigerians’ ability to travel, or the economic cost of Lagos to London would have been around N12 million. However, this administration has resolved that issue in less than a year. The results of these implemented reforms are starting to appear. Therefore, it is untrue to generalize about the nine and a half years of APC rule. Let’s concur. Let’s be honest. Inform us about the beginning of this administration. They claim to be heading here. This is the extent of their progress. After that, we help the administration accomplish its goal rather than criticize, undermine, and demonize it.
What do you believe can reverse that and encourage everyone to support the Tinubu government? The figures you’re citing mean nothing to the tens of millions of Nigerians who have been forced into extreme poverty and to many of the homeless.
In the first scenario, an administration’s duration is merely four years. Do you believe that a rottenness that has been there for more than eight years can be resolved in eight months? It can’t. Anyone who wants to run for president after the Buhari government must have gone insane, in my opinion, since we elites in particular are experiencing selective amnesia. For eight years, our nation was neglected on all fronts—socially, economically, and monetarily. Nevertheless, there were no dangers over those eight years. No complaints were made. Everywhere there was silence. There was consent everywhere. You just indicated that there is a lot of youth restlessness in the North, and now someone has taken over this rottenness before he has even had a chance to sit down. Over the past nine years or more, the number of out-of-school children in the North has been rising. Approximately 20 million children are not in school today. President Goodluck Jonathan’s almajiri schools were demolished and abandoned. Now, the level of restlessness and restiveness would not have been as high if any of the youngsters on the street had been accepted into the Almajiri schools. Can you honestly tell yourself and your conscience that Bola Tinubu is to blame for all of this? That isn’t accurate. That’s not right. I was telling you that there is a reformer in the villa, someone who says, “I have stepped out and I’m not going to step back,” and who is not desperate for fame or power. He’s doing it, and I accept responsibility and will work to reform our nation. To transform Singapore, Lee Kuan Yew needed thirty-one years.
Do you believe that, generally speaking, opportunities and prospects for Nigerians have improved or declined since you served as a special adviser to two past presidents, Obasanjo and Jonathan?
I am an evangelist, a Christian, and a representative of Christ. I have no desire to be a minister, commissioner, or anything else, thus I will not stand here for any purpose. Thus, I stand to gain very little. All I’m trying to say is that I want the nation to advance and prosper. Furthermore, I don’t have a strong objection to the individual who is currently there. In actuality, possibilities have long since passed and have become distorted. New opportunities are currently being developed with the help of the established pillars. Would you like to discuss the youngsters who were unable to attend school due to their parents’ financial situation? Now that many are unable to even feed, it will have been worse. This implies that many more of our young people will be unable to enroll in college. According to Bola Tinubu, poverty is no longer a problem or a justification for not getting an education. There is a loan fund that is currently operational, which he promised to do in his agenda. Numerous youth programs are being offered, and numerous efforts to fund them are presently underway. It will require time. I am aware that Nigerians are in distress. Although they refer to it as T-pain, which is Tinubu agony, the reality is that it is not Tinubu pain. It is short-term suffering for long-term benefit. When a reform is underway, it is impossible for it to occur without experiencing short-term discomfort. Furthermore, there can be no profits if there are no pains. We all have to experience this. My late brother used to reside at Okupe Estate during the construction of Ikorodu Road. He would arrive home daily around 1:30 and 2:30 a.m. They were harmed. He is not the only member of the family. On that axis, many individuals suffered. However, it takes us twelve minutes to travel to Ikorodu Road today. The building that was done in Metropolis during the time cost a generation, and they suffered as a result. In order for future generations and even those who are now alive to benefit from much more permanent gains, a generation must endure some short-term suffering. Bola Tinubu’s issue is that there were four main contenders in the election, and when there are strong contenders like that, it might be challenging to get enough votes to secure a majority. The Bola Tinubu administration received roughly 37% of the vote. Therefore, those who oppose him, who have failed, who are naturally African, and who are bad losers are the ones who are stoking the flames of criticism, of failing, of claiming that he has left us. Nigerians need to return and examine the governance now that the elections are finished. Let us examine the work being done critically, impartially, and without bias.
