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Doyin Okupe, Ex aide to former President Goodluck Jonathan, has announced his withdrawal from the 2023 presidential race.
The former spokesman of former President Jonathan went further to announced that he would now support the candidacy of Peter Ob, the former Governor of Anambra State.
Okupe, who earlier declared to run under the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) made these disclosures while addressing a press conference at the NUJ Secretariat, Iwe Iroyin, Abeokuta, Ogun State, on Wednesday adding that he has “observed that the leadership of the PDP seems to be driving us all towards a fait accompli.”
He said he has abandoned his ambition and conceded the same to the South East in the spirit of fairness and equity, even though “I was the first to declare for the presidency in Nigeria.”
According to him, the leader of the Pan-Yoruba group, Afenifere, Ayo Adebanjo, had in a meeting told him that the next president must come from the South East, saying he had gone beyond Afenifere to pick Peter Obi, whom he considered as a right peg in a right hole.
Okupe warned that it would be wrong for the PDP to jettison zoning saying that it was clear to him that those at the PDP helm of affairs “are trying to hoodwink those of us aspirants from the South to commit ourselves to obtain the requisite forms before coming up with the original position that ‘every zone can contest the presidency.”
This position, he declared, “is politically fraudulent, unjust and inequitable.”
He also frowned at the mandate given to the zoning committee saying: “One would have expected that the mandate of this committee would be such that it would discharge its duties and report to the NEC of the party within a maximum of 5-7 days. Sadly, this has not been so.”
As a politician, Okupe said he has “come to accept the ill-defined zoning arrangement”, adding that he would forge ahead with his unrepentant call for a rotation of power to the South.
“I turned 70 years a few days ago, and I have made a covenant with my maker that for the rest of my life, I shall uphold this spirit and principles of our forebears as manifestly displayed and represented in our collective socio-political heritage – THE AFENIFERE.
“Two weeks ago, Pa Ayo Adebanjo called me for the first time into his bedroom and admonished me that no matter what circumstances we Yorubas find ourselves in the ever gyrating political circus of Nigeria, I must uphold the truth and follow the path of equity and justice.
“We Yorubas, right from the time of the late Premier of the Western Region, Chief Obafemi Awolowo, have always stood for honour, integrity, truth and justice no matter the situation.
“The Action Group which was largely a Yoruba political platform was used by the leadership to fight for justice and oppose injustice everywhere in the country.
“This was the basis of the cooperation of the Action Group with the UMBC in the middle-belt, and similar groups in the mid-west and Calabar.
“It is this spirit of fairness, forthrightness, and courage that made the Yorubas embrace the AFENIFERE, which was neither a mass movement, nor a political group. It was an association of men and women who stood for truth, equity and justice.
“This is an heritage we the Yorubas must not allow to be diluted in the presence of so much shenanigans and political dishonesty and lack of integrity that has become the hallmark of our new political ethos.”
“I therefore, here and now proclaim that I am, as I have said publicly several times, withdrawing from the presidential race and I am declaring my support for the best aspirant not only in Igboland, but in Nigeria as a whole.
“I and my supporters within and outside the PDP are teaming up with His Excellency, Peter Obi.
“At the same time, I want to enjoin all other aspirants from the South; Chief Dele Momodu, Senator Anyim, and His Excellency, Governor Nyesom Wike to come with me and let us team up with Peter Obi. So we can give the South the best possible chance.
“For the avoidance of doubt, I am not fanning the embers of division, rather I am by this action lightening the torch of unity by establishing political stability on the pillars of truth and justice upon which the Bible tells us that even the throne of the Almighty God is founded,” the statement read.
