The Senior Special Assistant to the President on
Public Affairs, Dr. Doyin Okupe, in this interview
with OLALEKAN ADETAYO, reacts to some of the
criticisms trailing President Goodluck Jonathan
and gives reasons why he deserves a second
term
Despite the achievements President Goodluck
Jonathan claims to have made, what will you
say is responsible for the general perception that
this government has performed below
expectation?
I like it that you used the word perception. There
is a negative sinister perception created by the
opposition. I will tell you how. The opposition
has a tremendous influence on Nigerian media
and therefore, most of these achievements are
suppressed from coming to public glare. The
second one is that achievements and good news
do not make news but when Boko Haram keeps
bombing and killing, that is the news. I have
looked at newspapers’ headlines for one year, 75
per cent of headlines are on Boko Haram. It
doesn’t matter even if you say that the President
had just gone to commission an industry
somewhere but when you say 285 killed in
Monduga, Borno State, that is what people will
remember.
Insurgency has been overplayed to the extent
that it has overshadowed the laudable
achievements of this administration and it is
deliberate. I know for a fact that the issue of
Boko Haram was designed and executed from
the beginning to malign this administration.
There was Boko Haram before this
administration, but the evil people in the society
who felt there was no way they could remove the
administration saw an opportunity and they
encouraged it one way or the other to the extent
that we never had rest in the last two to three
years.
Do you exercise any fear of possible post-
election violence in the country?
That question should go to APC people. They are
the ones that are identified with violence and
also canvass for violence and perpetrate
violence. There is no doubt about it, they have
said it before and they have made it happen. We
have nothing to do with violence. We win all the
time, we are going to win again. We just pray
that when we win, people will accept it readily
and not create violence as they did in 2011.
Many people who suffered the 2011 violence
have not recovered from it.
One of the achievements being pointed to by this
administration is the unbundling of the Power
Holding Company of Nigeria, why is it that
Nigerians still do not have electricity?
The unbundling of the PHCN is a major event. It
took 15 years and finally it took the courage,
tenacity and commitment of President Jonathan
to see it through. Without the unbundling of the
PHCN, we will be a non-starter in terms of power
generation. Government cannot provide what is
required to provide Nigerians’ electricity needs.
Nigerians today need 50,000MW. We are looking
at about $40bn to $50b, that is multiple trillions
in naira. All we have in our capital vote in a year
is about N1tr, where will we get that kind of
money from? So we have to break down the
power infrastructure so as to encourage foreign
direct investors to come and invest and take it
over just like the telecommunications.
Don’t you think the issue of the missing Chibok
girls has affected the political fortune of the
President?
It is not just Chibok girls; everything that has to
do with this insurgency has affected the political
fortune of the President. The good news however
is that in spite of it all, this administration has
verifiable and concrete achievements that nobody
can argue about.
How do you react to the claim by the opposition
that the President lacks the capacity to fight
Boko Haram?
It is only the mentally derailed that will say that.
Because there is insurgency here, then the
government is not doing well. It is nonsense
talk. It is absolute nonsense talk. Insurgency is
not a Nigerian affair. How much is our national
budget? About N4tr. How much is that in
dollars? Is that not $2b? That is not up to what
America gives to Egypt on a yearly basis. It is
only foolish people and some not too
experienced politicians as well as ignorant and
mischief makers that will say that because
Jonathan’s administration has not been able to
end insurgency, then he does not have what it
takes to tackle Boko Haram.
When Buhari says he will end insurgency, that is
total rubbish. He does not know what he is
talking about, it is not going to happen unless he
is the one who controls the boys on the field.
That is the only reason why he can end
insurgency immediately. Because in that case,
what he needs to do as their commander is to
ask them to stop and they will stop. If that is
not the case, nobody can say he will end
insurgency like that. That is just political
gimmick and nobody should take him seriously.
The issue of insurgency is not a campaign
performance of President Jonathan.
Apart from security, another major fallout of
ongoing campaigns is corruption. How will you
rate this administration’s anti-corruption drive?
I don’t need to rate this administration’s anti-
corruption drive. If I say it, nobody will believe
me. Why should you believe me? Why should
APC believe me? Why should Nigerians believe
me? I am a beneficiary of this government. But
there are world institutions that have in the past
castigated us and condemned us, but are saying
another thing now. Two years ago, we were
147th out of over 170 nations when they did the
corruption perception index of Transparency
International. We did not abuse them, we
accepted it and said we were going to improve
and we have done that. Today, the same
organisation says we are 136th, we have moved
eight points in two years. These are independent
and objective observers. It does not mean that
we are no longer corrupt, it is evident that
something is being done about it.
The President appointed Chief Femi Fani-Kayode,
who has a case pending in court, as the
spokesman of his campaign organisation. He
also granted pardon to Chief Diepreye
Alamieyeseigha who was convicted of corruption.
How will you marry these with the President’s
anti-corruption war?
Granting pardon to somebody, is that corruption?
How can you say that? I expect people who are
educated and knowledgeable to stay away from
things that do not make sense. When these
events happened, we showed you that
prerogative of mercy is the preserve of the
President. Look at Presidents all over the world:
murderers have been granted mercy; drug
peddlers have been granted mercy. It is a
prerogative of mercy. In the case of
Alamieyeseigha, why do our people exhibit so
much hatred? Alamieyeseigha was accused of
corruption, he was tried for corruption, he was
found guilty and jailed for corruption. He finished
his term, his properties were seized. Why don’t
you just give a gun to the President to shoot
him? What is wrong if he granted him pardon?
How can that be corruption? That is not
corruption. He exercised the power that is given
to him. At every celebration of national events,
President, governors and even state chief judges
grant pardons to murderers and other criminals
to leave prisons. This one had served his term.
Chief Fani-Kayode has a case in court. The law
says you are not guilty until you are declared so
by a court. He had many charges levelled
against him, virtually all of them were quashed
by the court because they were either
exaggerations or things that cannot be backed
by facts. There is absolutely nothing wrong in
making Fani-Kayode the spokesman. He is very
competent, he is good at it, he has the intellect
and he is in a position to do the job. If he goes
to court and he is found guilty, then the law can
take its course. You cannot say because he has
a case in court, therefore, he cannot work. And it
is not a case of corruption really. That is not an
issue.
How will you react to the belief that those of you
who surround the President always respond with
anger to criticism and attack personalities
instead of addressing issues?
What issues are there to attend to? Those who
call the President clueless, those who say the
President is a drunkard, those who say the
President is a non-performer, are those issues?
It is just because this President is liberal. We do
not have a choice than to be angry. I am angry
because I know that people are painting the
President in colours that he does not deserve
and they are doing it deliberately, not based on
facts. They are using the media to manipulate
the minds of people. They abuse the President
but when we respond, they will say it is
unpresidential. If you do not want to be insulted,
do not insult others.
You once predicted that APC will not last one
year. The party is almost two years now. How
do you feel?
My prediction helped them because I found out
that every day they meet, instead for them to
fight, they will say ‘you know Okupe predicted
that we are not going to last, so let us beg one
another.’ So what I have done is to help them
because we wanted a very serious opposition
and we are praying that they will not break. If I
did not say so, they would have broken and
there would have been no contest. So they
should thank me for saying so.
