Okupe: Obi was nowhere when I started politics

Doyin Okupe, a former director-general of the Labour Party presidential campaign, has claimed that when he ventured into politics in 1978, Peter Obi, the party’s presidential candidate in the 2023 election, was not known.

In a video that has gone viral, Okupe said Obi’s presidential aspiration forced him to contest against Atiku Abubakar, Peoples Democratic Party’s candidate, who he said brought him into national politics.

Daily Trust reports that Obi, an ex-governor of Anambra State, defected from PDP to LP in the build up to the 2023 presidential election.

The former DG of the Obi/Datti presidential campaign organization dismissed reports that he betrayed Obi, maintaining that he decided to withdraw his support for the LP presidential candidate because he was no longer interested in working with him.

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He said: “They said I betrayed Obi. No. How can I betray him? I started politics in 1978. Obi was nowhere else. My life and political destiny cannot be tied to Obi’s ambition. I wish Obi well, but I am done with him. We wanted to achieve something, but we couldn’t achieve it.

“Obi was the vice-presidential candidate of Atiku Abubakar in 2019. He brought him to the national limelight. Because of his own ambition, which was correct and due, Obi left the party and contested against Atiku. If people said I betrayed Obi, what did Obi do to Atiku? It is not fair.

“It is Obi’s interest in 2023 that made him go on a collision course against his former master. Obi was not my master; I was his supporter. If I supported him up to a point and decided to go back and be myself, how can that be an offence?”