I Didn’t Betray Peter Obi, A Better Man Won The Election – Doyin Okupe

A former Director-General of the Peter Obi Presidential Campaign Organisation, Doyin Okupe has come out to praise President Bola Tinubu for his economic reforms.

He recently had his say while speaking on Monday’s edition of Channels Television’s Politics Today, and Nigerians have been reacting.

According to him, the truth is that both Peter Obi and Atiku Abubakar couldn’t have done better if they were in charge because they don’t even have the knowledge to do what Tinubu is doing now.

He added that it is not as if he does not believe in Peter Obi, but a better man won the election.

His words, “By benefit of hindsight, none of the three major candidates who ran for that election, except for Tinubu, could have faced this quagmire we are and have the heart to breast it.

They don’t even have the knowledge and the resources to do what he is doing now.”

On if he betrayed Obi, “That was why I said by the benefit of hindsight. There is no betrayal. Has Peter Obi told you what he would do if he was president? Talk is cheap.”

It is not as if I don’t believe in Peter Obi. He was a damn good candidate when we got him. But we lost that election, and a better man won. It is a competition. I thought Obi was better than Tinubu. That was what I thought.

But seeing what Bola Tinubu is doing and his disposition, especially after meeting him yesterday (Sunday), I am more than convinced that if this gentleman is given understanding and time, he is going to get us out of this problem.

I am telling you, none of these other two people (Atiku and Obi) could have done better than him. That is why I said talk is cheap. Fuel subsidy has been on the table for the last 20 years. Nobody had the nerve to even try to do it.

I read Atiku’s proposition. He said if he was the President, he would borrow $10bn and another $25bn to do something. That makes $35bn. Who is going to lend you money? By the time Buhari was leaving, Nigeria was not sellable. Nobody was going to give Nigeria $1 bn anywhere.

Because we could not borrow money anywhere, the Buhari administration went ahead and did an illegal and unlawful thing through the ways of means and printed $21trn. So when you are faced with that, it is a quagmire. That is confounding. Only a brave man, one with mental resources and confidence in himself, can do what Bola Tinubu is doing.”