Dr. Doyin Okupe, on Tuesday, assessed President Bola Tinubu’s administration, describing his policy framework as superior to those of his opponents in the 2023 presidential election, including Atiku Abubakar of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and Peter Obi of the Labour Party.
“Tinubu has a better policy document than any of his two rivals during the 2023 presidential election. Atiku Abubakar of the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, is an experienced, knowledgeable, and thoroughbred politician. I know for a fact that he also came with a testament that would have been binding on him and Nigerians,” Okupe said.
He continued, “But when you put the testament side-by-side with the current reality on the ground, it is not applicable.” Okupe argued that the financial challenges left by former President Muhammadu Buhari’s administration made Atiku’s plans unrealistic.
“The premise Atiku placed his testament on was sinking, and it can’t work. As for Peter Obi of the Labour Party, he did not give any document to Nigerians that he was going to work on. In the Labour Party, we didn’t have a document that we could adopt as a policy document for what was going on.
“All we were saying was that we wanted to take Nigeria from consumption to production; good rhetoric, but it was not grounded either in policy development or principle application,” he added.
Okupe commended Tinubu for addressing critical national issues early in his tenure, citing foreign exchange reforms and tax policy. “Tinubu tackled foreign exchange issues, stopping individuals from exploiting earnings through the Central Bank of Nigeria, CBN, connections. Two months after getting into government, he put up a committee to look into tax reform, which was in his agenda,” Okupe noted.
He further highlighted Tinubu’s strategic approach, saying, “This man (Tinubu) has a systematic, reliable, focused, and applicable agenda that can take Nigeria to enviable heights. Though I never supported Tinubu ahead of the election; he is not my friend, and we were not in the same party, in retrospect, however, his reform agenda is the most credible. The renewed hope agenda he (Tinubu) brought is one that can address, and is addressing, the country’s current challenges.”
Okupe’s remarks have stirred discussions on the role of comprehensive policy documents in election campaigns and the preparedness of presidential candidates.
