The Senior Special Assistant to the President on Public Affairs, Dr. Doyin Okupe, has reacted to some of the criticisms trailing president Jonathan ,also talking about the opposition APC and why Buhari can’t end insurgency immediately .Read excerpts from his interview with Olalekan Adetayo of Punch
Despite the achievements President Goodluck Jonathan claims to have made, what will you say is responsible for the general perception that this government has performed below expectation?
I like it that you used the word perception. There is a negative sinister perception created by the opposition. I will tell you how. The opposition has a tremendous influence on Nigerian media and therefore, most of these achievements are suppressed from coming to public glare. The second one is that achievements and good news do not make news but when Boko Haram keeps bombing and killing, that is the news. I have looked at newspapers’ headlines for one year, 75 per cent of headlines are on Boko Haram. It doesn’t matter even if you say that the President had just gone to commission an industry somewhere but when you say 285 killed in Monduga, Borno State, that is what people will remember.
Insurgency has been overplayed to the extent that it has overshadowed the laudable achievements of this administration and it is deliberate. I know for a fact that the issue of Boko Haram was designed and executed from the beginning to malign this administration. There was Boko Haram before this administration, but the evil people in the society who felt there was no way they could remove the administration saw an opportunity and they encouraged it one way or the other to the extent that we never had rest in the last two to three years.
Don’t you think the issue of the missing Chibok girls has affected the political fortune of the President?
It is not just Chibok girls; everything that has to do with this insurgency has affected the political fortune of the President. The good news however is that in spite of it all, this administration has verifiable and concrete achievements that nobody can argue about.
How do you react to the claim by the opposition that the President lacks the capacity to fight Boko Haram?
It is only the mentally derailed that will say that. Because there is insurgency here, then the government is not doing well. It is nonsense talk. It is absolute nonsense talk. Insurgency is not a Nigerian affair. How much is our national budget? About N4tr. How much is that in dollars? Is that not $2b? That is not up to what America gives to Egypt on a yearly basis. It is only foolish people and some not too experienced politicians as well as ignorant and mischief makers that will say that because Jonathan’s administration has not been able to end insurgency, then he does not have what it takes to tackle Boko Haram.
When Buhari says he will end insurgency, that is total rubbish. He does not know what he is talking about, it is not going to happen unless he is the one who controls the boys on the field. That is the only reason why he can end insurgency immediately. Because in that case, what he needs to do as their commander is to ask them to stop and they will stop. If that is not the case, nobody can say he will end insurgency like that. That is just political gimmick and nobody should take him seriously. The issue of insurgency is not a campaign performance of President Jonathan.
Do you exercise any fear of possible post-election violence in the country?
That question should go to APC people. They are the ones that are identified with violence and also canvass for violence and perpetrate violence. There is no doubt about it, they have said it before and they have made it happen. We have nothing to do with violence. We win all the time, we are going to win again. We just pray that when we win, people will accept it readily and not create violence as they did in 2011. Many people who suffered the 2011 violence have not recovered from it.
How will you react to the belief that those of you who surround the President always respond with anger to criticism and attack personalities instead of addressing issues?
What issues are there to attend to? Those who call the President clueless, those who say the President is a drunkard, those who say the President is a non-performer, are those issues? It is just because this President is liberal. We do not have a choice than to be angry. I am angry because I know that people are painting the President in colours that he does not deserve and they are doing it deliberately, not based on facts. They are using the media to manipulate the minds of people. They abuse the President but when we respond, they will say it is unpresidential. If you do not want to be insulted, do not insult others.
You once predicted that APC will not last one year. The party is almost two years now. How do you feel?
My prediction helped them because I found out that every day they meet, instead for them to fight, they will say ‘you know Okupe predicted that we are not going to last, so let us beg one another.’ So what I have done is to help them because we wanted a very serious opposition and we are praying that they will not break. If I did not say so, they would have broken and there would have been no contest. So they should thank me for saying so.
