•His Running Mate Reveals
Over the last few weeks, there has been so much support for Peter Obi who is running for President come 2023.
All over social media, a lot of youths have been canvassing for Peter Obi as the best man for the job. They see him as incorrupt. They see him as able and capable and they all recall the feat he performed when he was the Governor of Abia.
PDP Chieftain, Dr Doyin Okupe has emerged as his running mate. A few days back, City People Publisher, SEYE KEHINDE and DAMILOLA went after Okupe to reveal what he has found out running around the country with Peter Obi.
Is he the Saint he has been painted to be? Is he the frugal person he has been described to be?
These and many other questions agitated our minds as we drove to the Lagos home of this ebullient politician.
He just woke up that Tuesday morning and he looked refreshed. For 2 hours, we grilled Omoba Doyin Okupe who was forthright and punchy as he has always been. Read on.
What do you think of all the criticisms that have come in the way of Peter Obi? Is he a Saint?
Peter Obi never called himself a Saint, he never did. He is a man that believes in doing things rightly and properly. For anyone to address Peter Obi as just any person is unfair. In the last 3 months, I associated myself with Peter Obi, I have seen things I have imbibed in myself even at my age. There is a 10-year gap between myself and Peter Obi. He is not pretending. For one, they say he does not spend money. It is the fact. It is not like he doesn’t spend money, he doesn’t spend money wastefully. Where I will give N10,000 to someone Obi may give 1,000. Many times, we will be in the vehicle leaving someone’s house, Obi will stop his driver to give security guards money. He may decide to give 5 of them N5,000 or N3,000. He has the feeling, if I was alone, I would have given N10,000. But he has that soulfulness to give. He measures with what he feels is right and when he spends money for the needful, he spends money.
When we did our primary in PDP we went all over the place in economy class. When we had to get to the North and because of the insecurity in the North, we chartered a plane, that is money. I would rather be an Obi than to be who I am because his own style is productive. It is meaningful, he is not profligate. He says between Asaba and Abuja is a 45-50 minute flight, why should I pay 120,000 in business class when I can pay 45-60 thousand in economy class? When in a few minutes we will land, I agree to that. In the past 20 years, I have not flown economy except when I have an emergency or there is no seat. Since I started going around with Obi I did not mind, he sits in the economy. In the beginning, since Peter buys the ticket by himself, no matter our number, he checks us in. I cannot do that, he will go to the counter to get our boarding pass for us. In the beginning, he will say I am a big man and buys me business class and every other person in the economy, but after a week I realised it was not okay since we are a team.
I alone in business class and with others in the economy, I told him to stop buying business class for me. Now, when I am travelling alone, I buy economy class. You saw me coming down before now my staffs will come to take what I am carrying I don’t give it to anyone again, I do it myself. These are not things that are not with me before, these are things I picked up from Peter Obi. He is not an ordinary Nigerian, his considerations are different. The last time I stayed in RockVille Hotel was in 1998 but those are the types of hotels Peter stays in. This is a man that was worth N25 million dollars some 25 years ago, I am not worth 2 million dollars. I don’t know about his background but I think this was something he picked up while growing up. He is a natural role model, he is not like all of us, he is different. He doesn’t carry women, he will say “if I go and have a girlfriend, I will have to buy her a car at my level, a flat and others. I get the same service at home for free”. That kind of reasoning, he is not pretentious and we have seen him act it as a man in power for 8 years. That is why Nigerians believe he can help us. He has only one girl, when the girl was getting married two months ago I was not even invited. He just mentioned it to me casually at the airport that he was heading to Asaba the next day for his daughter’s wine-carrying ceremony.
I was surprised, even big and top men that are his friends were not aware. After the wedding, he told me the budget his wife gave, he cut it down 3 times. This is the man. It is not usual but at this time, someone with this discipline is the person we need to reset the stage so other people can come. Let him reset the stage, stop the decline and wastefulness, and establish a pattern of governance then other people can come in. That is why I am following Peter Obi, he was not my friend but we were in the same party PDP. In terms of my experience, with 42 years in this business, I have served in the highest offices in the land, I have met with the high and mighty. So if I go line behind a man like this, there must be a reason. Apart from buying us tickets and hotel, there is no financial gain and I am satisfied. I have 9 children, the majority of them are abroad and there is no intention of coming back and it is painful for me. This is my own old age, people that I have raised with my own sweat and energy are away from me. They don’t know how I sleep, they just send me WhatsApp messages. When I left medical school, I was working in a Nigerian hospital. Every night, I was with my dad, I was the last person to see him before going to bed. I tucked him to bed, he sleeps off, I locked the door and quietly go away. I won’t have that kind of attention because the country is not liveable.
I cannot ask my children to come to this, I have seen others come back and I see them living in bad conditions. I went to see a friend who has 4 children with 2 having master’s degrees. His last child is a lady and a graduate. In that house, only the parents are working. The 4 children are not engaged. We need to halt this decline, our youths are so vibrant but cannot find a way to express it. We need to set this stage, without prejudice neither PDP or APC can provide what Nigeria needs to go to the next level. If Nigerians vote for PDP or APC, what you will have is a change of personnel, that’s all. Nigeria needs a change of system, not personnel. Look at the two parties, you cannot give what you don’t have. The truth of the matter is that in life certain things become irrelevant. The political platforms have expired. They have nothing else to offer Nigerians.
There is no argument about it, we are passing away. The future of the country depends on the youth, let them be in charge or make them have a major say in what they want and what Nigeria should be in future. What Nigeria is in future depends on their lives. The future of Nigeria now is what I have told you, I have 9 children and I am the only one in this house right now asides from my aides. Whatever happens to Nigeria in the next 20 years will have very minimal impact on me, but young people like a 22-year-old man that has just graduated. The next 20 years is crucial for his survival. These things are more fundamental than we think, the destiny of 200 million people is on the scale because of a few people. Look at what happened in Ekiti, it was said that people were being paid money on the queue to vote.
It is not APC alone, maybe APC gave 10,000, SDP -3,000, PDP -5,000 everyone gave money. Is that how we want to continue our politics? A young lady called me from Eti-Osa yesterday, she said for the primary for the House of Assembly, she worked so hard and was given 5,000 naira but the person who won gave 50,000 naira. We are seeing this decadence and one thinks it does not matter. When kidnapping started in the East, we were laughing. I remember. I travelled to Owerri and my friend came to visit me at the hotel, I could not recognise him because he wore torn jeans, a face cap turning to the back and a rough T-shirt.
This is a big man that was a Minister, he told me that, if he was not dressed like that, he will be kidnapped before getting to the hotel. At that time we laughed about it, but kidnapping is nationwide. Whatever is going on right now will virtually consume everybody unless we stop it. Who can stop it? We are the ones who have repented and agreed that this should not go on. That is why I am committed to using whatever energy is left inside of me; because of the knowledge I have acquired, I do not desire to hold any political post. I am prepared to be a life coach to lift up the youth. I came into politics at the age of 28 and I have held several posts. I was not 40 years old when I was the National Public Secretary of the NRC, I was less than 50 when I was the Special Adviser to the President of the country. I have had a good time, I cannot say that for my children or the youth coming up. I know a graduate who is married to a graduate, they live in Lagos with two children and live like poor people. I have gone to visit them in Akowonjo and I shed tears. The man has gone to school including his wife and they live in filth.
We cannot encourage that system. We have 100 million poor people in this country, it is unacceptable. We have to battle poverty heads on, we cannot do that if we operate on a budget we have operated on for the past 40 years. Those budgets only serve civil servants, Ministers, the presidency and the legislature, they don’t serve the public. I have a daughter who was educated in America, one day I went to see her, she came to me waving a cheque. She said she found the 2,000-dollar cheque in her box from the reserve bank. I asked why and she said it was given to workers to fight inflation and depression in her country, which Nigerian person has collected money from the Nigerian government in the last 40 years?
We cannot know the right and continue to be wrong, we are old, let us allow the young who know what to do. Yoruba say “aja iwo yi la fi nse ode iwo yi”, meaning use a modern dog to do modern hunting. If you use old dogs, it will use old tactis when the prey are smarter, so you get nothing.
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