Dr. Doyin Okupe, former Director-General of the Labour Party, criticized Peter Obi, the party’s presidential candidate, for lacking a comprehensive policy document to support his campaign’s shift from consumption to production. Okupe emphasized that while Obi’s rhetoric was appealing, it lacked a grounded, actionable policy framework.
Speaking about the state of the country’s political landscape, Okupe, who also served as a senior adviser to former President Olusegun Obasanjo, said that while Obi’s campaign slogan was compelling, it lacked the foundational policy backing necessary to effect real change.
“In the Labour Party, we didn’t have a document that we could adopt as a policy document for what was going on.
All we were saying was that we wanted to take Nigeria from consumption to production; good rhetoric, but it was not grounded either in policy development or principle application,” Okupe stated.
Okupe’s remarks were made while assessing the current administration of President Bola Tinubu, whom he compared favorably to Obi and the presidential candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Alhaji Atiku Abubakar, in terms of policy clarity and substance.
He argued that Tinubu’s policy framework was more comprehensive and practical than the plans presented by his 2023 election rivals.
“I believe Tinubu has a better policy document than any of his two rivals during the 2023 presidential election,” Okupe asserted.
He went on to praise Tinubu’s economic strategies, particularly his efforts to address foreign exchange challenges and tax reforms, which he said demonstrated a “systematic, reliable, and focused” approach to governance.
On the other hand, Okupe dismissed Atiku Abubakar’s proposals as relying too heavily on theoretical loan arrangements, which he believes are unfeasible in the current financial climate.
According to Okupe, Atiku’s plans were based on the assumption that Nigeria could secure loans from international institutions, but this premise was rendered unviable due to the country’s economic challenges and a lack of international support.
“The premise Atiku placed his testament on was sinking, and it can’t work. Former President Buhari’s administration was in a dire financial state, and international institutions refused to lend loans to Nigeria,” Okupe explained.
He added that while Atiku is a seasoned politician with a wealth of experience, the circumstances he faced in 2023 were not conducive to the implementation of his plans.
Despite his past opposition to Tinubu and their different political affiliations, Okupe conceded that the current president’s economic agenda, known as the “Renewed Hope” plan, appeared to be the most credible and effective.
“Though I never supported Tinubu ahead of the election; he is not my friend, and we were not in the same party, in retrospect, however, his reform agenda is the most credible,” he remarked.
Okupe praised Tinubu for acting swiftly to address economic issues, noting that two months into his administration, the president had established a committee to review tax reforms, a key aspect of his economic agenda.
He also highlighted the administration’s measures to curb the abuse of foreign exchange allocations through the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), which he claimed had previously been exploited by a few individuals with connections to the central bank.
Dr. Okupe reassured Nigeria that President Tinubu’s early-stage policies will help overcome economic challenges and position the country for future growth, citing his systematic, reliable, and focused agenda.
“This man has a systematic, reliable, focused, and applicable agenda that can take Nigeria to enviable heights,” he said.