Rivers
State governor and chairman, Nigeria Governors’ Forum (NGF), Mr Rotimi
Amaechi, has described the senior special assistant to President Goodluck
Jonathan on public affairs, Dr Doyin Okupe, as the worst enemy of the
president.
Amaechi
stated this in a statement he issued in Port Harcourt yesterday in a reaction
to comments Okupe made in a live radio programme in Abuja last Saturday.
In the
statement, his chief press secretary, David Iyofor, said: “Again, on Saturday
August 17, 2013, presidential assistant on public affairs Dr Doyin Okupe on a
radio programme continued his grossly irresponsible, repugnant and
contemptuous, albeit feckless, mission of denigrating and disparaging the
person and office of the governor of Rivers State and the chairman of the
Nigeria Governors’ Forum(NGF), the Rt. Hon. Chibuike Rotimi Amaechi.
“In the
past few weeks, we elected to ignore scurrilous statements from Okupe, as we do
not wish to, wittingly or unwittingly, avail him with a sparring partner as he
strives, though fecklessly yet again, to elevate his act from an attack puppy
to an attack dog. Moreover, like most Nigerians, we believe that Okupe is
irrelevant in the political equation that no serious-minded person should take
seriously. Over time, his comments and statements are akin to some sort of
notice-me monkey dance in front of his boss and his band of cheerleaders.
“However,
it has become pertinent to alert/notify the populace and Mr President that the
likes of Okupe represent the very worst of the President Goodluck Jonathan
administration. With an aide and adviser like Okupe, President Jonathan
certainly does not need any enemies. Indeed, Okupe is more than a handful.
Pray, what kind of advice will an aide/adviser like Okupe give to Mr President?
The earlier Mr President purged the Presidency of characters like Okupe, the
better for us all.
“Okupe
sank to a new low when he falsely and indecorously claimed that Governor
Amaechi used the police to harass, intimidate and punish people unjustly and
could not provide one instance or any evidence to back up his claims. He
bragged about some phantom text messages from ‘ordinary people’ whose families
have suffered grave injustice in the hands of Amaechi and, yet again, did not
tell us the content and senders of the text messages. What does Okupe take
Nigerians for? The phantom text messages exist only in the devious mind of
Doyin Okupe.
“The
presidential spokesman then sank even deeper as he condescendingly descended to
become the chief advocate and defender-in-chief of the commissioner of police
in Rivers State, Mbu Joseph Mbu, who the National Assembly has resolved
categorically should be removed from Rivers State.
“Okupe’s
warped argument is that the call for the redeployment of Mbu from Rivers State
by the state government is because Mbu has refused to be a ‘tool in the hands
of Amaechi’. Pray, Okupe, if that is the case and Mbu is such ‘a professional
with dignity’, why then did the House of Representatives and the Senate (who
sent a committee to Rivers State to investigate the issues) pass two separate
resolutions calling for the immediate removal of Mbu from Rivers State?
If Okupe’s trend of agbero logic is anything to go by, his likely response
would be that it’s because Mbu refused to be a tool in the hands of the
National Assembly!
“With
comments like that coming from a presidential aide and spokesman, Nigerians now
have a better insight into why Mbu is still in Rivers State and continues to
act with impunity, in spite of the call by eminent Nigerians and the resolution
of the National Assembly that Mbu should be removed.”
