THE ex-Senior Special Assistant on
Public Affairs to former President Goodluck Jonathan, Dr Doyin Okupe,
has resigned from the Peoples Democratic Party.
Okupe, who was also a former
spokesperson for former President Olusegun Obasanjo, announced his
retirement from the PDP on Sunday.
Okupe, a former national chairmanship
aspirant of the party, said that happenings within the party had
indicated that there was no way the PDP would bear fruits in the future.
He said his resignation from the party was after what he referred to as a long introspection.
Okupe said he made his resignation from the party public because he was not sure who to direct his letter to.
The PDP had been embroiled in a
leadership crisis at the national level following the rejection of its
Court of Appeal-recognised National Chairman, Senator Ali Modu Sheriff,
by some PDP governors and members.
The aggrieved governors and some members
of the party’s caucuses had pitched their tent with the National
Caretaker Committee headed by Senator Ahmed Makarfi.
Okupe said that the party was no longer a
united party in his Iperu-Remo ward, hence his decision to publicly
announce his resignation from the party.
He said, “It is with deep regret that I publicly announce my resignation from the Peoples Democratic Party.
“It has to be public because the PDP no longer exists in my ward as a single unified party that it was when I joined it.
“It is no longer news that the PDP has been embroiled in a fratricidal internal crisis brought upon it by itself.
“Its current direction is difficult to
discern and I am convinced that even when the much expected judgment
from the Supreme Court is given, the future of the party is not likely
to be significantly affected whichever way the judgment goes.
“There seems to be too much deception, selfishness and gross nepotism in our polity nationally.”
He said during the National Republican
Convention and Social Democratic Party era, there existed true
nationalism and brotherhood.
Okupe added, “Northern NRC politicians
will, under no circumstance, undermine their party for any parochial
reason. Also, neither will a southern NRC politician, under any
circumstance, betray his party.
“Abiola was a Yoruba man, yet those of us who were Yoruba in the NRC never once thought of voting for him.
“The commitment in the North was even
more profound. Even the northern SDP rejected a distinguished,
successful Kano-born presidential candidate, Alhaji Bashir Tofa, and
voted for a southern Yoruba Muslim candidate.
“Worse than that, both Abiola and his running mate, Ambassador Babagana Kingibe, were Muslims. Yet, it did not matter.”
Presently, he said the party wass
divided broadly into two major factions, with one being headed by Ladi
Adebutu and the other by Senator Buruji Kashamu.
He said, “Unfortunately, I do not
fit into either group. Hence, it becomes extremely difficult for me to
operate as a politician under the PDP umbrella in the state. Yet, all
politics is local.”
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