Doyin Okupe has stated that Peter Obi, the presidential candidate of the Labour Party (LP) in the 2023 elections, did not present any policy document to support his “consumption-to-production” mantra during the campaign.
Okupe, who was a former director-general of the LP presidential campaign, made these comments on Tuesday while evaluating President Bola Tinubu’s administration.
He argued that Tinubu has a more comprehensive policy document than his rivals in the 2023 elections.
Okupe also claimed that Atiku Abubakar, the presidential candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), based his plans on theoretical loan arrangements.
He said that Tinubu has “meticulously” implemented the “renewed hope agenda” and has worked to pay off crippling debts in order to stabilize the economy.
“Tinubu has a better policy document than any of his two rivals during the 2023 presidential election,” NAN quoted Okupe as saying.
“Atiku Abubakar of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) is an experienced, knowledgeable, and thoroughbred politician.
“I know for a fact that he also came with a testament that would have been binding on him and Nigerians.
“But when you put the testament side-by-side the current reality on the ground, it is not applicable.”
Okupe added that the administration of former President Muhammad Buhari faced a dire financial situation, with international institutions refusing to lend loans to Nigeria.
“So, the premise Atiku placed his testament on was sinking, and it can’t work,” he said.
“As for Peter Obi of the Labour Party, he did not give any document to Nigerians that he was going to work on.
“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 also noted that Tinubu took action on foreign exchange issues, stopping individuals from exploiting earnings through the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) connections.
“Two months after getting into government, he put up a committee to look into tax reform, which was in his agenda,” he said.
“This man (Tinubu) has a systematic, reliable, focused, and applicable agenda that can take Nigeria to enviable heights.
“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.
“The renewed hope agenda he (Tinubu) brought is one that can address, and is addressing, the country’s current challenges.”
