Dr Doyin Okupe, former spokesman to ex-president Goodluck Jonathan, on Sunday reacted to claims by Chairman of DAAR Communications (AIT), Chief Raymond Dokpesi, that the sole candidacy of Jonathan in the presidential election was a mistake.
Okupe took to his Facebook page to react, affirming that the decision by then ruling Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) to pick his ex-boss was in order, claiming however, that the only error by the PDP administration was its failure to sack the immediate-past chairman of Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), Prof. Attahiru Jega, despite his political leaning.
It is unclear how the the electoral officer widely acknowledged to have conducted a free, fair and credible presidential election could become the villain in Okupe’s obviously jaundiced bad loser’s judgement.
Okupe said: “The impression created in the media recently that the candidacy of Goodluck Jonathan was an error is itself a grand fallacy which totally undermined the whole truth about the sanctity and correctness of the wisdom of the PDP National Executive Committee which made and ratified that decision.
“All over the world, when an incumbent signifies intention for a second term, it is customary that the established machinery of the party wholly backs and ratifies such intentions.
“If any error was made, it was first the failure of PDP administration to sack the unfair and compromised electoral officer who was allowed to conduct the election in spite of his obvious and profuse partisanship.”
He failed to explain how the professor was compromised to become partisan. Just as he blamed the card reader which only vets the authenticity of voter cards and has not yet been upgraded to automatic result collation for the loss of PDP and Jonathan.
“The second error was the inexplicable acquiescence of the PDP government to the use of the infamous Card Reader which was skilfully manipulated to the disadvantage of the PDP presidential candidate.
“The third error of the PDP was to have fielded a good, God-fearing and patriotic man who in spite of his enormous power,
the avalanche of deployable arsenal of war at his disposal, transformed himself to be the victim and refused to fight so that his countrymen may live and his nation survived. The situation in Burundi today is highly instructive.
“Certainly, history will treat Goodluck Jonathan as one of the greatest heroes of this generation of African leaders. Definitely not an error by any stretch of imagination.
“I speak today not as a spokesman for president Jonathan. An episode and a proud chapter of my life which has since come to a close. Rather, I speak as a student of History and a veritable stakeholder in the Nigerian project,” said Okupe.
-Vanguard