2023: Doyin Okupe Quits Presidential Race, Backs Peter Obi, South East

Former Presidential spokesman, Dr Doyin Okupe has announced his withdrawal from the 2023 presidential race.

Okupe was one of the aspirants who indicated interest in the race under the platform of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP).

While announcing his decision to quit at the Nigerian Union of Journalists (NUJ), Iwe Iroyin, Abeokuta, Ogun State,  Okupe said he and his supporters would be supporting the candidacy of former Anambra State Governor, Peter Obi, to fly the PDP ticket in next year’s election.

He also asked all other aspirants from the South; Chief Dele Momodu, Senator Pius Anyim, and Rivers State Governor Nyesom Wike, to declare their support for Obi’s candidacy.

Okupe took a swipe at the national leadership of PDP over the yet-to-be resolved zoning of the presidency, saying “It is clear to me that those at the helm of affairs of the party are trying to hoodwink those of us aspirants from the South to commit ourselves to obtain the requisite forms before coming up with the original position that ‘every zone can contest the presidency’.”

He declared that “this position is politically fraudulent, unjust and inequitable.”

Okupe said, “I have consulted far and wide with the political stakeholders in my zone. We Yorubas, right from the time of the late Premier of the Western Region, Chief Obafemi Awolowo, have always stood for honour, integrity, truth and justice no matter the situation.

“The Action Group which was largely a Yoruba political platform was used by the leadership to fight for justice and oppose injustice everywhere in the country.

“This was the basis of the cooperation of the Action Group with the UMBC in the middle-belt, and similar groups in the mid-west and Calabar.

“It is this spirit of fairness, forthrightness, and courage that made the Yorubas embrace the AFENIFERE, which was neither a mass movement, nor a political group. It was an association of men and women who stood for truth, equity and justice.