Rivers state Governor, Rotimi Chibuike Amaechi on Sunday lambasted Doyin Okupe, President Goodluck Jonathan’s Senior Special Assistant on Public Affairs, following the latter’s media attack on him over the weekend. Okupe had referred to Amaechi as a willing tool in the hands of some ambitious governors.
However, Amaechi in a strong worded statement signed by his chief press secretary, David Iyofor, described Okupe’s comment on a Liberty FM radio programme on Saturday, as “rude, uncharitable, ill-mannered and hypocritical.”
Iyofor said it was unfortunate that “small minds like Okupe in a democracy, see anyone holding a different opinion from the Presidency on any issue as anti-Jonathan or in a ‘battle’ with Mr. President.”
The statement reads: “Again, on Saturday August, 18, 2013, Presidential Assistant on Public Affairs Dr. Doyin Okupe on a radio programme, continued his grossly irresponsible, repugnant and contemptuous, albeit, feckless mission of denigrating and disparaging the person and office of the Governor of Rivers State and the Chairman of the Nigerian Governors’ Forum(NGF), the Rt. Hon. Chibuike Rotimi Amaechi.
“In the past few weeks, we elected to ignore scurrilous statements from Okupe, as we do not wish to, wittingly or unwittingly, avail him with a sparring partner as he strives, though fecklessly yet again, to elevate his act from an attack puppy to an attack dog Moreover, like most Nigerians, we believe that Okupe is an irrelevant in the political equation that no serious-minded person should take seriously. Over time, his comments and statements are akin to some sort of notice-me monkey dance in front of his boss and his band of cheerleaders.
“However, it has become pertinent to alert/notify the populace and Mr. President that the likes of Okupe represent the very worst of the President Goodluck Jonathan administration. With an aide and adviser like Okupe, President Jonathan certainly does not need any enemies. Indeed, Okupe is more than a handful. Pray, what kind of advice will an aide/adviser like Okupe give to Mr President? The earlier Mr President purged the Presidency of characters like Okupe, the better for us all.
“Okupe sank to a new low when he falsely and indecorously claimed that Governor Amaechi used the police to harass, intimidate and punish people unjustly and could not provide one instance or any evidence to back up his claims. He bragged about some phantom text messages from “ordinary people” whose families have suffered grave injustice in the hands of Amaechi and, yet again, did not tell us the content and senders of the text messages. What does Okupe take Nigerians for? The phantom text messages exist only in the devious mind of Doyin Okupe.
“The Presidential spokesman then sank even deeper as he condescendingly descended to become the Chief Advocate and Defender-in-Chief of the Commissioner of Police in Rivers State, Mbu Joseph Mbu, who the National Assembly has resolved categorically should be removed from Rivers State.
“Okupe’s warped argument is that the call for the redeployment of Mbu from Rivers State by the State government is because Mbu has refused to be a ‘tool in the hands of Amaechi’. Pray Okupe, if that is the case and Mbu is such ‘a professional with diginity’, why then did the House of Representatives and the Senate(who sent a committee to Rivers State to investigate the issues) passed two separate resolutions calling for the immediate removal of Mbu from Rivers State? If Okupe’s trend of agbero logic is anything to go by, his likely response would be that it’s because Mbu refused to be a tool in the hands of the National Assembly!
“With comments like that coming from a presidential aide and spokesman, Nigerians now have a better insight into why Mbu is still in Rivers State and continues to act with impunity, in spite of the call by eminent Nigerians and the resolution of the National Assembly that Mbu should go. What interests does Mbu serve for Okupe and his co-travellers that they are bent on keeping Mbu in Rivers State?
“Let us remind Okupe and his co-travellers that it took a lot of efforts, resources and the strong political will and determination of Governor Amaechi to restore peace, security and order to Rivers State from the dark days of pre- October 2007. To destroy all that in the name of playing politics portends grave danger for our polity and will do no one, more especially, the Presidency no good. No responsible government plays politics with the lives of its people
“It is certainly rude, uncharitable, ill-mannered and hypocritical for Okupe to falsely and superciliously allege that Amaechi is a ‘willing tool’ to any person or group against President Jonathan. Where was Doyin Okupe when Governor Amaechi led Rivers electorates to overwhelming give President Jonathan over two million votes, the highest by any State in the last presidential election?
“For the likes of Okupe and his fellow travellers in the Presidency and Abuja, Governor Amaechi only became ‘willing tool to the opposition’ when he openly refused to cede any part and oil wells of Rivers State to a neighbouring State, and stood firmly and resolutely to defend and fight for the rights of Rivers people, which he was elected to do, anyway. For the likes of Okupe and his ilk in the Presidency and Abuja, Governor Amaechi only became ‘willing tool to the opposition’ when he, like most other governors, insisted on governors and governors alone, to determine who would be their chairman, the Governors’ Forum Chairman and not some hawks in the Presidency. Governor Amaechi’s only ‘sin’, to the Okupes in the Presidency, is his penchant for seeking justice and fairness for all, and his ability to speak his mind and say the truth at all times. This, obviously, is not in conformity with the kind of politics Okupe knows and understands.
“It continues to baffle us, like most Nigerians, that small minds like Okupe in a democracy, still see holding a different opinion from the Presidency on any issue as anti-Jonathan and fighting Mr. President – a taboo and sacrilege. And any person perceived to be thinking differently must be crucified, politically and otherwise.
“It is indeed a sad commentary on our nation’s democracy and unity that a Presidential aide/spokesman would see nothing wrong and would cavalierly dismiss the harassment, stoning and attack on eminent and esteemed visiting governors from the Northern States to their colleague and chairman, Governor Amaechi in Rivers State by a mob, a group floated, financed and promoted by a serving minister in the Presidency. This tells a lot about the character of Doyin Okupe.
“We admonish Okupe that his persistent intemperate, obnoxious and opprobrious invectives and outbursts against Governor Amaechi and other Peoples Democratic Party(PDP) Governors cannot and will not help his boss in any way. At best, it may provide some kind of bizarre fleeting entertainment for his(Okupe’s) cheerleaders. Like he said, if Mr. President decides to seek for re-election, it is the same governors that the Presidency will need and call upon to deliver the votes from their various States to the President.
“Pray, how will Okupe’s uncouth, relentless and constant tirades against Governor Amaechi and some other PDP governors assist his principal now or in 2015? Or help our party, the PDP, in winning elections? Nigerians are more interested in what the PDP controlled Presidency is doing to better their lives, not the petty, cheap politics of hatred, acrimony and unbridled outbursts of an inconsequential presidential aide who is trying so hard to play to the gallery and earn his pay.
“Characters like Okupe are the real enemies of the PDP and Mr. President.The country and Mr. President can certainly do without his infantile vituperations, which has become a constant distraction. Okupe represents everything a presidential aide/spokesman should not be.”
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