Dr. Doyin Okupe, the Director-General of the Labour Party’s presidential campaign in the 2023 election, has accused Peter Obi, the party’s candidate, of betraying Atiku Abubakar, the candidate for the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), to pursue his presidential ambitions. Okupe, in a widely circulated video on social media, clarified that his decision to withdraw support for Obi was due to personal reasons and not a betrayal.
Okupe stated, “They said I betrayed Obi. No. How can I betray him? I started politics in 1978. Obi was nowhere then. 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.”
He emphasized that Obi’s decision to contest the 2023 presidential election was a direct challenge to Atiku, who had previously brought Obi into national politics by selecting him as his running mate in 2019. Okupe argued that if anyone had been betrayed, it was Atiku. “Obi’s interest in 2023 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?” Okupe remarked.
Okupe revealed that his initial support for Obi was influenced by Pa Ayo Adebanjo, a prominent leader of the Yoruba socio-political group Afenifere. Adebanjo opposed the idea of another northerner succeeding former President Muhammadu Buhari, advocating instead for a southern candidate. Okupe explained, “Baba Adebanjo called me and said he heard that I wanted to contest for the presidential election, and I said yes. Baba said I was a troublemaker. I told Baba that he didn’t know what was happening in our party. PDP wanted a northerner to replace Buhari; that didn’t make sense to me.”
Further, Okupe mentioned that the decision to support a South-Eastern candidate for the presidency was rooted in the principle of fairness. “I told Baba that it was only the South-East that has not produced a president. Baba said we should support the South-East for the presidency and I agreed. We reviewed the presidential candidates from that region and we concluded on supporting Obi. That was what happened,” Okupe said.
Okupe recounted the beginnings of his association with Obi, stating that he had not met Obi before publicly declaring his support for him. “I went to the Press Centre in Abeokuta to declare that I was withdrawing from the race, and that I would support Peter Obi. By that time, I hadn’t met Obi. I hadn’t discussed or seen him. I only knew he wanted to be president.”
Okupe also addressed why Obi lost the election, attributing it to the Labour Party’s inadequate infrastructure for a national campaign. “We ran a fantastic campaign; we did a lot of mobilisation, but we had our flaws and shortcomings. The party was grossly and inadequately arranged to cover a national election. We didn’t have what it took,” Okupe admitted.
In response to Okupe’s comments, Bello Adebayo, the Chairman of the Labour Party in Osun State, refuted the betrayal claim, stating, “Obi didn’t betray anybody; it is not correct to say he betrayed Atiku because he didn’t contest the PDP presidential ticket with him in PDP.”
