Okupe joins Accord party, says he is not desperate to be anything

Doyin Okupe, former senior special assistant on public affairs to ex-President Goodluck Jonathan, says he has joined the Accord party.

Okupe, who made this announcement in a statement on his Facebook page on Tuesday, said he was not desperate to be anything anymore.

On July 2, he announced his decision to leave the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), saying the party had become menopausal.

On Tuesday, he said he took the decision to join the Accord party after consultations with political associates, family and friends.

“Following various consultations with political associates, family and friends I have decided to formally join the Accord party,” he said.

“My decision is based on deep reflection on who I am and what I want from politics. To me politics does not begin and end with winning or losing elections. It’s not about big or small parties either. It’s also beyond personal relationships or endearing associations or friendships.

“There exist in our communities several platforms on which such affiliations and sentiments can be sufficiently gratified. To me, politics is about, service to the people, policies and ideologies that will serve the best interests of the greater majority of the society, forthrightness and accountability, honour and Integrity.

“I am not desperate to be anything anymore. But I am desperate to find and work with other Nigerians especially our young and vibrant upcoming politicians, to establish a political incubator to breed a new generation of leaders who will do things right, maintain high ethical standards and abhor greed, avarice, selfishness and impunity.

“Most of our national parties presently and in the past were put together with a false sense of national spread but majorly, irrespective of how they came to power, end up being inequitable and manifestly exists to serve the interests of a minority few and/or that of a tiny section of the country.

“I want to belong to a political party that will be able to publicly state its position on troubling national issues like, requests for self determination by a section of the country, resource control, federalism and restructuring, religious intolerance, atrocities of Fulani Herdsman, unequal standards in national university admission policy, and many more.

“Any political party that does not have an openly stated position on these issues is a mere association of elites coming together only to feather their own nests.”

Okupe added that he would announce an official date for his declaration soon.