Tinubu Best Among All Presidential Candidates In 2023 – Doyin Okupe

A former presidential aide, Doyin Okupe, has praised President Bola Tinubu as the best candidate in the 2023 presidential election.

Tinubu won the election, with Atiku Abubakar of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and Peter Obi of the Labour Party finishing second and third, respectively.

Okupe, who initially served as Peter Obi’s campaign director, acknowledged in retrospect that Tinubu is the best suited for the presidency.

“Let me tell you, of all the people that actually ran for President in 2023, by the benefit of hindsight, Bola Tinubu is the best,” Okupe said on Channels Television’s Politics Today on Friday.

“I have seen Peter Obi, I have been with Atiku Abubakar, I also knew Bola Tinubu many years ago. I have not seen him in the last 7 to 8 years, that is not the point but he is the best in terms of capability, commitment, and knowledge.”

Okupe argued that Nigerians cannot evaluate Tinubu’s administration in the same way as previous ones because he took office after an 8-year period of perceived governance neglect. He emphasized that one year is too short to judge the current administration and urged Nigerians to give Tinubu more time to prove his capabilities.

When asked if his statement was a betrayal of Obi, whom he had campaigned for, Okupe disagreed. He explained that his support for Obi was based on their shared belief that a Southerner should become president, which led to their departure from the PDP.

Okupe and Obi campaigned together across the country before leaving the PDP for the Labour Party, where Okupe became the director-general of Obi’s campaign.

Okupe later resigned from this position following a Federal High Court ruling in Abuja that found him guilty of receiving over N200 million in cash from former National Security Adviser (NSA) Sambo Dasuki. In his resignation letter, Okupe stated that he stepped down to avoid distracting Obi’s campaign and that of the party.

In January, Okupe also resigned from the Labour Party, citing ideological differences.