Doyin Okupe, the former Director-General of the Labour Party’s (LP) Presidential Campaign, has refuted the opposition’s claims of a stolen mandate in the 2023 presidential election. He acknowledged the possibility of election rigging but emphasized that the presidential mandate was not unlawfully taken from the opposition.
Okupe shared his perspective in a statement issued on Thursday in Lagos, where he challenged the notion that the election was stolen. He questioned how, if the election had indeed been rigged, the Labour Party’s presidential candidate, Peter Obi, was able to secure victories in regions considered strongholds for the ruling party.
He pointed out, “If Peter Obi or the Labour Party claims the APC rigged the election, how did Obi manage to win in President Bola Tinubu’s home state? How did the APC lose in the home state of President Muhammadu Buhari? How did they lose in the home state of the Secretary to the Government of the Federation?” According to Okupe, these outcomes make the allegations of widespread rigging seem implausible, asserting that the accusations do not hold any merit.
In his view, while the electoral process may have experienced irregularities, the final results were a fair reflection of the political dynamics in Nigeria at the time. He explained, “Under the best of conditions, the results we got may not have been the exact figures, but the proportions would likely remain the same.”
Okupe also reflected on his time with the Labour Party, expressing confidence that the party had performed as well as possible given the circumstances. “I know that for certain reasons, we could not have done better than we did,” he said, although he noted that a deeper discussion on this topic would be saved for another time.
On the issue of accusations from the opposition People’s Democratic Party (PDP) and Labour Party regarding a stolen presidency, Okupe firmly dismissed these claims. “There’s nothing like that. No presidency was stolen,” he declared, while acknowledging the existence of election rigging in Nigeria’s political history. According to him, rigging has been a consistent feature in every election in the country since 1960, with the notable exception of MKO Abiola’s 1993 election due to the unique nature of the voting system used at the time.
Okupe further expressed his belief in the potential of President Tinubu’s reforms, stating that the president’s policies would begin to show positive results starting from the second year of his administration. He praised Tinubu not only for his political acumen but also for his intellectual abilities, describing him as a capable technocrat who excels in strategic thinking. “Tinubu is a man with the capacity for deep thinking,” Okupe said, adding that the president’s approach to development and governance was instinctive. “This is something you don’t learn; it’s a gift,” he added.
Drawing a parallel between Tinubu and the late Premier of the defunct Western Region, Chief Obafemi Awolowo, Okupe noted that both men shared visionary ideas for public policy. He firmly rejected the notion that Tinubu entered office without a plan, calling such claims “total nonsense” and reaffirming his belief that the president was indeed a reformer with a clear vision for Nigeria’s future.
