Senior Special Assistant on Public Affairs to President Goodluck Jonathan, Doyin Okupe has laughed off the calculation of the All Progressives Congress (APC), which apparently made the party choose former Head of State Muhammadu Buhari as its flag bearer in the 2015 presidential election, saying politics is not mathematics.
“The calculation that Buhari came with 12 million votes (in 2011) without other platforms; now, if you can deliver the entire of the South-west, that is another 20 million votes, you add it and he is going to win. Politics is not mathematics,” Okupe told Vanguard in a recent interview.
“Yes, Buhari may have had 12 million votes in 2011. But the Bola Tinubus of this world, in the course of showing their capabilities, have been bruised, they do not control the South-west and that is very clear. In actual fact, were it not because they have a lot of money, Buhari should have dumped them long ago because they cannot deliver. At the beginning of this year, maybe the calculation was still clear that they would deliver South-west,” the presidential aide said, but explained that the APC’s hold on the southwest had diminished.
He gave reasons for his assertion: “Today, in the South-west, Ondo is not in the basket, Ekiti is not in the basket, Osun is neither here nor there, and I am saying that authoritatively. PDP gubernatorial candidate Omisore may still be the governor of Osun; but even if he does not become the governor of Osun, we have seen the results of the last gubernatorial election in the state. If that is something to go by, it is topsy turvy.
“In Lagos State, just as they (APC) are clamouring for change at the national level, people at the grassroots are saying they are fed up with the nonsensical things that APC has been doing in the state,” Okupe said.
Commenting on the APC’s threat to form a parallel government if the presidential election in 2015 is rigged, Okupe described it as irresponsible.
“There is no basis for it in law. How do you determine an election that is rigged or not rigged. It is only a court of law that can pronounce that an election was rigged. Preparing to form a parallel government before an election, should not be taken serious. The person who started the discussion was Amaechi (Rivers State governor) and that should not be taken serious. Amaechi first made that statement and the party adopted it. It is an irresponsible statement,” he said.
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