Olayiwola Matthew
A former presidential spokesperson, Doyin Okupe, has said that Nigerians are being unfair to President Bola Tinubu.
Okupe, a former Director-General of Peter Obi’s Presidential Campaign, said that he met with Tinubu at the Presidential Villa in Abuja on Sunday. Reflecting on his assessment of the current government’s reforms, he believes the President is performing “exceedingly well.”
“He (Tinubu) is doing exceedingly well, and he’s going to do much, much better. Bola Tinubu needs understanding, not undermining,” Okupe said during an appearance on Channels Television’s Politics Today programme on Monday.
“If we do not go through this tough time, the country would have collapsed.”
He noted that although he supported the Labour Party’s Obi during the 2023 election, the better candidate won the election.
Okupe pointed out that Tinubu has been in office for just 17 months and deserves more time. “Just 17 months – how much can he (Tinubu) accomplish?” Okupe asked.
“I am more than convinced that if this gentleman is given understanding, he would perform even better,” he added in defence of Tinubu of the All Progressives Congress (APC).
“Bola Tinubu will fix this nation. Take that to the bank.”
“Talk is cheap,” Okupe remarked, taking a jab at Obi and Atiku Abubakar of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP). “Neither of the other two candidates can achieve what Tinubu is doing.”
Nigerians are currently grappling with one of the country’s worst inflationary periods in decades, with energy costs more than quadrupling since former Lagos governor Tinubu took office as the nation’s president in May 2023.
There have been two major protests in 2024, with demonstrators urging the government to reverse its twin policies of petrol subsidy removal and the unification of forex windows. However, the current administration has maintained that its reforms are yielding results and that there is no turning back.