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Doyin Okupe has revealed the role he played in Peter Obi’s defection from the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) to the Labour Party (LP) ahead of the 2023 presidential election.
In an interview, the former Director-General of the Labour Party Presidential Campaign narrated how he convinced Obi to dump the PDP when he realised the opposition party won’t give him its presidential ticket.
Okupe said he decided to support Obi’s presidential ambition after his discussion with Pa Ayo Adebanjo in 2022.
According to him, he dropped his presidential ambition to declare support for Obi after the Afenifere leader encouraged him to throw his weight behind presidential aspirants from the South-East region.
“Baba said if we are to rotate it to the south, which section of the south should it go? And I said Baba, in truth and fairness, let us be factual, Southwest has been president, Obasanjo. South-South has been president, Jonathan in recent times. Only South East has not had a shot at it and I found it to be an injustice, but there is nothing a single person can do.
“If they can fight for themselves and we can support them so be it. Then Baba said, why don’t you just support them and I said I agree. That’s what happened.”
How Okupe’s journey with Obi started
Following his meeting with Pa Adebanjo, the ex-presidential aide to former President Goodluck Jonathan said he decided to support Obi because of all the presidential aspirants from the South-East, he (Obi) has the greatest appeal.
He said, “I went back to Iperu and I called my political associates and I told them of the encounter and what I decided and that I was going to drop out of the race. They said who are we going to support, I said if we are going to support the east, there’s Pius Anyim, there’s Peter Obi, and one or two other persons.
“I think Peter Obi is the one that has the greatest appeal. So, we agreed and then, I went to Iwe Iroyin, that Press Centre in Abeokuta, and I declared that I was dropping from the race and that I was going to support Obi.
After declaring his support for Obi, Okupe said the former governor of Anambra State reached out to him, asking him to be the Director-General of his campaign.
“He (Obi) said he wanted to see me. I told him I’ve declared support for you, are you in Lagos, he said yes. I said let’s me at Southern Sun. We met there and he said please join me, come and be the Director-General of my campaign. I said gladly, I will do it. That’s how the journey with Obi started.” Okupe said.
How Okupe prevailed on Obi to dump PDP
Ahead of the PDP primaries in Abuja, Okupe said it was clear that the opposition party was unwilling to give its ticket to Obi, adding that too many gladiators wanted the party’s presidential ticket.
He explained that he advised Obi to dump the party before the party’s primary election because leaving the PDP for another party after failing to get the ticket would make him look unserious.
“When it was crystal clear that we could not get the ticker under PDP, the gladiators were too many, and the odds that were against us were unsurmountable, Obi and I sat down in the hotel room in Abuja and I said look, let’s face it. If we stay there and take part in the primaries and after that, you move to another party, you’ll not look good to the public. So, let us leave before they did their primary. So we left PDP,” Okupe explained.
He said three days after Obi resigned from the PDP, he delivered his resignation letter at the party’s national secretariat in Abuja and after that, he joined the Labour Party.