Okupe: I’ve never criticised Tinubu — a good man doesn’t spoil another

Doyin Okupe, a former presidential aide, says he has never criticised President Bola Tinubu.

The ex-presidential aide was reacting to an article in which he was named among former critics of Tinubu, who are now his supporters.

In an interview with NAN, Okupe said he and Tinubu were in the “trenches” together during the era of the military junta in Nigeria.

He added that he has always maintained the position that Tinubu will do well as the president of the country.

“Go and check all through my time in the Labour Party and in PDP. I have never in my life criticised Bola Tinubu even though we have never been under the same political umbrella before,” NAN quoted Okupe as saying.

“A good man does not spoil another good person. We had a very serious, not-so-visible bond during the NADECO.

“He was abroad. We were here in Nigeria coordinating.

“When we were in the trenches together under severe pressure from the government, running from here to here, it gives a bond that even political partisanship cannot give.

“So, you can go and check all publications. I have never, ever criticised him. There is nowhere you will hear me speak anything ill about Bola Tinubu.”

In October 2013, as the senior special assistant to ex-President Goodluck Jonathan on public affairs, Okupe released a statement to criticise Tinubu over his comment on the national conference proposed by Jonathan.

Okupe had said Tinubu’s comment on the national conference “does not represent the views of the majority of Yoruba people in the south-west”.

The former presidential aide also criticised Tinubu over his comment on the subsidy reinvestment and empowerment programme (SURE-P).

Okupe had said Tinubu “spoke ignorantly” on the SURE-P scheme and that he should have been “better informed rather than the shameful falsehood he tried to disseminate on the utilization of the Sure-P funds”.

In the build-up to the 2023 presidential election, Okupe was the director-general of the Labour Party (LP) presidential campaign council but he resigned in December 2022.

In January 2024, Okupe resigned his membership of the LP.

Following the 2023 presidential election, Okupe has been expressing his support for Tinubu and his policies.