Dr. Doyin Okupe, a former Director-General of the Labour Party (LP) Presidential Campaign, has dismissed claims that the 2023 presidential election was rigged in favor of the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC). Speaking in a statement released on Thursday, Okupe said the election results reflected the reality of Nigeria’s political landscape.
Addressing accusations of rigging by the Labour Party and its presidential candidate, Peter Obi, Okupe questioned how Obi managed to win in strongholds of prominent APC leaders if the process had been manipulated.
“If Peter Obi (2023 LP presidential candidate) or the Labour Party says APC rigged elections, how come Obi was able to win in the home base of President Bola Tinubu?
“How come APC lost the election in the home base of the sitting president (Muhammadu Buhari)? How come APC lost the election in the home base of the secretary to that government?
“So, the accusations about rigging do not hold water; they do not hold water at all.
“The truth of the matter is that under the best of conditions, the results we got may not have been the exact results, but they will have that ratio.
“I was in the Labour Party; we couldn’t have done better than we did. I know that for some reasons, but that is a discussion for another day,” he said.
According to him, the opposition PDP and LP appear to be unrealistic with their accusations that “the presidency was stolen.”.
Okupe added, “There’s nothing like that. No presidency was stolen. I am not saying there was no rigging.
“There was no election that we have done in Nigeria since 1960 till date that was not rigged one way or the other.Not one.
Okupe, now a supporter of President Bola Tinubu, expressed confidence in Tinubu’s leadership. He compared Tinubu to the late Chief Obafemi Awolowo, describing him as a visionary leader with a strong grasp of governance. Okupe argued that Tinubu’s policies, though painful in the short term, would lay a foundation for long-term growth.
“The president needs time,” Okupe said, urging Nigerians to be patient. He emphasized that Tinubu inherited a difficult economic situation, with most of the country’s revenue going to debt repayment. Despite the challenges, Okupe expressed optimism that Tinubu’s reforms would begin yielding results within two years.
