APC is Good Party, But will Become Relevant After 2019 – Doyin Okupe
The Presidency on Wednesday in Abuja enjoined supporters of President
Goodluck Jonathan not to worry about the declaration by opposition
figures to contest the 2015 presidential election.
The Senior Special Assistant to the President on Public Affairs,
Doyin Okupe, who was speaking in an interview with State House
correspondents, described the opposition aspirants as serial losers.
Okupe described an online media report which claimed that Jonathan was
scheming to illegally extend his tenure as untrue, saying that the opposition
aspirants had been rejected by Nigerians in the past.
According to him, nothing has changed to make Nigerians accept either retired
Major Gen. Muhammadu Buhari or Alhaji Atiku Abubakar, who have
failed in the past in their quest to become president.
Responding to a question on whether Jonathan should be worried about the
opposition, he stated that the declaration of the opposition was not really
something new.
He said, “most of the candidates of the opposition are serial failures. Atiku
has tried twice, he has failed; Buhari has done it four times, he has
failed.’’
“If you present yourself in an election, the first time people reject you,
second time, they reject you. So, have they gone to school, to Harvard or are
they bringing new things.
“We are not worried at all. We are absolutely unperturbed. The president is
going to contest against serial losers.
“People who never win elections, people who Nigerians don’t believe in, people
who have no leadership anything.
“And it is even now worse for them. This president has been given four years,
a platform on which he has demonstrated administrative capability, efficiency
and delivery. It is unarguable.
“This party, the APC, it is a new party, it is a good party. They will become
relevant from 2019 upwards not now.
“Their declaration and participation is not a threat to us. They have never
won an election before,’’ he said.
On when Jonathan would declare for the election, Okupe referred to a Yoruba
proverb which says; “It is the biggest masquerade that comes out last.’’
Okupe expressed the belief that the president, who had been under severe
pressure to seek re-election, would not disappoint his supporters.
“The president has been under intense pressure from ordinary citizens,
ordinary Nigerians, foreign interests and local interest groups, and
especially even his party.
“Virtually every level of party leadership has more or less endorsed the
president to run and I believe the president is not going to let us down.
“He has done very well. We appreciate it and we are calling on him to come and
run,’’ he said.
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