Fuel subsidy: No president ever bit the bullet like Tinubu, says Okupe

The former Director General of the Peter Obi-Datti Presidential Campaign Organisation of the Labour Party, Doyin Okupe, claims that no individual, former president, or administration has ever tackled the challenges that President Bola Tinubu has faced.

Okupe made the statement on Tuesday during Channels Television’s Political Paradigm interview, where he praised Tinubu’s proactive approach to addressing Nigeria’s challenges and explained why he believes Tinubu is the second-best candidate for the presidency after himself.

Okupe, who also served as Goodluck Jonathan’s presidential spokesperson, claimed that no individual, former president, or administration has ever faced the challenges that Tinubu has, particularly regarding the controversial fuel subsidy.

“Nobody, nobody, no president of Nigeria, no administration in Nigeria has ever bitten the bullet that Tinubu bit,” Okupe said.

“For the past 20 years, everybody has been dodging the bullet, dodging the ball. The issue of fuel subsidy. During the campaigns, everybody agreed that it must go because it was wasteful spending. And they say that Tinubu, without thinking, on the day of the inauguration, announced it. If he did not announce it, he would never have been able to do it.”

Okupe added that if President Tinubu had not announced the removal of the fuel subsidy during his inauguration, any delay would have allowed opposition forces to prevent its removal.

He stated, “If he had said, ‘Oh, we are going to remove the fuel subsidy,’ but not acted immediately, if he didn’t on that day, he would have been forced by labor, by the media, by opposition, by students.”

When asked to rate Tinubu’s overall performance, Okupe stated, “No reasonable person, no fair-minded person, should judge Bola Tinubu on one year’s performance. The state of the country was in such a dire situation. It’s a financial and economic disaster he inherited.”

Okupe also likened Tinubu’s decision to be president to a biblical reference to Jesus Christ, stating, “It’s like when God was saying, ‘Who is going to go for us?’ Somebody had to be crucified for the world, and Jesus Christ said, ‘Send me.’ That’s what Bola was doing. He has sent himself into this quagmire, into this doldrum.”

Okupe recounted a conversation with former President Jonathan, stating, “A few days before we left office, I was with President Jonathan. He was pensive and expressed his concern for the incoming administration. He knew they were going to have a lot of difficulties,” Okupe recalled.

Despite the challenges faced by Tinubu’s administration, Okupe expressed confidence in Tinubu’s ability to navigate the crisis, adding, “He (Tinubu) will not be succeeding immediately, but he takes responsibility. I’ve never heard him say, ‘Oh, come and see what this Buhari did to us. Come and see what we had.’ No, the man, you know, the man puts on his boots and says, ‘I am going to fight it.’ He’s fighting it. He’s not winning yet, but I believe he can win.”

Okupe also shared a personal encounter that changed his perspective on Tinubu’s leadership, where the president revealed his master plan for Lagos, which included major infrastructure projects such as the Fourth Mainland Bridge, an airport at Lekki, and the Lekki Free Trade Zone.

“On the 21st of March 2022, while I was running for president on the PDP ticket, I said if Tinubu wins, he would do well and be perhaps the second-best person to me. We spoke for three hours, and he showed me the master plan for Lagos. That was the day I changed my mind about Bola Tinubu.”

“He showed me the master plan for Lagos. He said if we put a goat as governor from now on for the next 25 years, nothing but progress will happen to Lagos. I said, ‘How?’ Then he showed me so many things. That was when he showed me the fourth bridge, the airport, and the Lekki Free Trade Zone. You know the Marina, what the plan for Marina?”