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Tag: Doyin Okupe

  • APC, PDP must accept blame for Rivers Killings – Okupe 

    The leaderships of the All Progressives Congress and the Peoples Democratic Party must accept blame for the killings in Rivers Rerun election, a former Senior Special Assistant on Public Affairs to former President Goodluck Jonathan, Doyin Okupe, has said.

    Okupe, who condemned the killings, also called on the leadership of the Independent National Electoral Commission as well as the security to take the blame for the deaths.

    “The scale of violence that accompanied the Rivers Re run elections is condemnable and unacceptable. All principal participants must accept responsibility for this intolerable acts savagery. By all principals I mean, PDP, APC and their leaderships, the INEC, and the entire gamut of our security agencies,” he said in a post on his Facebook page.

    He noted that the destruction of lives and properties that have accompanied Nigeria’ selections in varying degrees this year was no longer excusable.

    According to Okupe, the frequent deaths of citizens, electoral officials, members of the security forces have assumed highly barbaric proportions.

    He also condemned the reported death of a Youth Corps member engaged during the rerun election in the state.

    Okupe said: “As a Nigerian parent whose children will still go through this national calling, I cease this opportunity to call on other Nigerian parents and well meaning Nigerians to prevail on INEC to stop with immediate effect the deployment of our children for electoral services.

    “We can no longer bear the pain of losing our wards to mindless acts of lawlessness by thugs and hooligans acting for and on behalf of reckless, desperate and irresponsible politicians and power mongers.

    “INEC stands accused in all this dastardly developments. Before going into an election in any volatile area they ought to obtain full security reports of the area in question and also confer with the police and the army to get written assurance that they can guarantee the security of electoral materials and officers.

    “Firstly it is unacceptable that INEC will still be involved in moving electoral materials all over the place on Election Day. All materials for election must arrive all LGA headquarters two weeks before Election Day.

    “They must arrive all wards one whole week before elections, only to be moved to the polling stations accompanied by security in the morning of the elections. All personnel including security should be at the wards at least 2days before the elections and be familiarized with their areas of duty and their security details before the D Day.

    “In special volatile areas like Rivers and others as to be advised by police and the intelligence agencies, a minimum of five armed personnel per polling station with availability of standby re enforcement in each LGA quarters. If it is impossible for any reason that these provisions can be made available, elections in such areas must be deferred.

    “In the case of this re run in Rivers, INEC the main organ empowered by our laws to conduct and oversee elections ought to have correctly projected these events and prevented it by breaking the elections into two episodes separated by one week. It is not acceptable for INEC, after its publicly manifested incompetence, to just come up after each mayhem, technical and administrative failure, and announce gleefully that the elections are “Inconclusive”.‎

    “If the present leadership in INEC is incompetent, the federal government should not waste time and continue to expose the citizenry to misery and pain. The entire organization should be overhauled. The security agencies must keep their roles to their professional calling. Voting and the processes that are before or after it are not their business.

    “Politicians, thugs and all persons involved directly or indirectly in acts of violence should be tried and if found guilty should be sanctioned with punishments ranging from death sentences to life imprisonment depending on their level of involvement.

    “For the next re run in Rivers, Gov Wike, and Amaechi and at least ten of their proven closest aides must be moved out of Rivers state into protective custody, deprived of their phones for a day before the new elections and on the day of elections. Enough of violence in our elections.”

     

  • Okupe urges FG to increase VAT to 15%

    A former Senior Special Assistant to former President Goodluck Jonathan on Public Affairs, Dr, Doyin Okupe, has urged the Federal Government to increase Nigeria’s Value Added Tax to 15 per cent following the fall in the price of crude oil.

    He called on government to pay serious and special attention to maximizing efforts at tax collection.

    Dr. Okupe, in a post on his Facebook wall, said the government made N4 trillion from tax through the Federal Inland Revenue Services.

    “In our present situation therefore, while we must continue to encourage growth of the real sectors of the economy, government must pay serious and special attention to maximizing efforts at tax collection.

    “The FIRS collected over N4trillion in 2015. Many believe this is just about 60 per cent of what is due. We may also in view of current realities, need to actually increase our VAT to 15 per cent.

    “But here justice and equity must apply. Each state of the federation must benefit only from its own contribution. That is if N100billion is collected from Kano, it stays in Kano and 50 per cent is remitted by Kano state to the federation account,” he said.

    He explained that Nigeria’s economy had always been diversified in his post.

    Okupe argued that diversification does not directly increase government income proportionately as does direct income from sale of crude oil.

    According to him, since governments worldwide do not do business, increase in government income or revenue can only come from taxation, royalties, bonds, licenses and sale of assets.

    “I am always amazed when people including very knowledgeable and highly placed persons speak of diversification of the Nigerian economy whenever there is a threat of fall in revenue from crude oil sales as it is presently.

    “For the avoidance of doubt the Nigerian economy has hither to been significantly diversified to a commendable level.

    “About a decade ago, the contribution of revenue from sale of crude to GDP was in excess of 60 per cent, while its contribution to National income was well over 90 per cent,” he stated.

     

  • Okupe is back … with a whinge

     Doyin Okupe, the Goodluck Jonathan presidential bull dog, is back, but with a whinge, not a bang.

    He whinges on end, like a bad artisan blaming his tool, even as he helps himself to more historical fantasies to justify the historical failure of the luckless Goodluck.

    Okupe, of course, is not new to self-induced fantasies; so the ebullient Remo prince did not disappoint in his latest release.

    It was he who said people should call him a bastard, if the newly merged opposition alliance, All Progressives Congress (APC) lived up to one year.  APC not only did that, it marked its one year with the unhorsing of Jonathan, Okupe’s principal, and the humpty-dumpty Peoples Democratic Party (PDP).

    This same Okupe went among some Nigerians in the Diaspora, boasting and bristling, perhaps on his sterling credential as “owner of Nigeria”, that Muhammadu Buhari would never become president.  Even when he was shouted down, he persisted.  Such impunity!

    He cut the sorry picture of some modern day false prophet, pushing the doomed King Ahab to his doom.  Well, his principal was game for believing Okupe’s empty histrionics.  Just as well, they both became history.

    But not even that wilful misadventure could wean Okupe from fantasies, even in his after-power life.  In analysing the misfortune he actively and wilfully brought upon Jonathan, the bull dog still appears trapped in the hellish mediums.

    Jonathan failed, he submitted, not because he was a candidate doomed to fail (as a contrite Raymond Dokpesi earlier pushed) but because Jonathan did not resort to impunity to sack Attahiru Jega, the INEC chair.  But under what laws might he have done that?  And even if he had found or confected some law, how would he have spun it that he wasn’t subverting the same democratic processes he swore by law to protect?

    He accused Jega as an “unfair and compromised electoral officer, who was allowed to conduct the election in spite of his obvious and profuse partisanship.”  Well, the trained medic is no lawyer.  But he should thank his stars Nigeria is not an especially litigious society.  Otherwise, the injured should have been suing every kobo out of him.  Jega, an obvious and profuse partisan?  That is reckless, partisan fantasy gone ga-ga!

    And, in his Okupe-istic wisdom, the erstwhile presidential bull dog growled inconsolably that even if his principal had failed to sack Prof. Jega, he should have foresworn the use of  what he called the “infamous” the card reader!  Sure, fame to some is notoriety to others, depending on their mindsets!

    But then if the card reader, the distinctive feature of the 2015 election that made a huge difference from the criminally padded polls of the past, was in Okupe’s words “skilfully manipulated to the disadvantage of the PDP presidential candidate”, then Hardball has a clear idea about the most probable beneficiaries of soulless rigging in the past!  Another Okupe-istic untruth, at its most daring and reckless!

    His final serenading of Jonathan is firmly founded on quicksand.  Okupe suggested Jonathan should have criminalised his office by subverting the election, even when it was clear he had been soundly rejected.  Thank God he didn’t buy that folly for whatever is left of his legacy would have dipped in concentrated odium.

    Jonathan sure does have them: an Edwin Clark that junked him without much ado after preening about as presidential father during the halcyon days of sweet power; and an Okupe that now serenades him with arrant falsehood.

    If history is to make anything of Jonathan’s ill-fated presidency, he had better keep his distance from the costly mirage the likes of Okupe unfazed epitomise.

     

  • NDIC sues Okupe, others over N34b debt 

    NDIC sues Okupe, others over N34b debt 

    The Nigerian Deposit Insurance Corporation (NDIC), Liquidator of Gulf Bank Nigeria Plc, has urged the Federal High Court to enlist its suit against Presidential Aide, Doyin Okupe and two others as undefended.

    NDIC instituted the suit in 2007 against Okupe, Value Trust Investment Limited and the firm’s director, Ray Ahazie.

    The liquidator claimed that as chairman of Value Trust, Okupe and the other respondents borrowed money to execute a project for the Bayelsa State Government from the defunct Gulf Bank.

    In its statement of claim filed before the Federal High Court sitting in Lagos, on July 10, 2007, the claimant, through its lawyer, Dr. Abiodun Layonu, averred that the defendants were granted a credit facility by the bank to finance the importation of 10,000 metric tones of rice for onward delivery to the Balyesa state government vide an offer letter dated October 27, 2000.

    The NDIC claimed that the terms and conditions of the offer and acceptance were later formalised in a memorandum of agreement duly signed and stamped between the bank and the defendants.

    The claimant averred that the respondents were in debt of N34.2 million, being outstanding balance on the loan they collected before the bank was wound up.

    The NDIC is also claiming the interest on the said sum at the rate of 21 per cent per annum from May 2007, until the final liquidation of the said sum.

    In securing the facility, the NDIC alleged that the defendants and Balyesa state government through its banker, Societe Generale Bank, granted a bank guarantee in the contract sum of N500 million in favour of Gulf Bank.

    The claimant said Okupe and Ahazie also entered joint and several guarantees to the full amount granted in favour of Gulf Bank to further secure the facility.

    It further claimed that when the ship carrying the 10,000 metric tones of rice arrived the Nigerian territorial waters on December 28, 2000, it could not berth at the Apapa Port until January 03, 2001.

    The claimant further stated that as a result of congestion, the ship arrived Port-Harcourt territorial waters on July 26, 2001, but refused to berth on grounds that the shipping agency fee of $155,000, (about N18.6 million) had not been paid

    Upon enquiry from the local representative of the shipping company, Koda International Nigeria Limited, the claimant said the Gulf Bank was informed that a bill of $155,000, had been sent to the first defendant -Value Trust Investment Limited, for settlement as per the agreement between the investment company and the Oversea Supplier Luck Rice International, of which it (claimant) had no prior knowledge of.

    It also claimed that upon further inquiry by Gulf Bank, Koda International Nigeria Limited disclosed that the $155,000, was for port dues ­ harbour, conservancy and anchorage fees.

    After reviewing the Charter Party agreement between Value Trust investment Limited and Lucky Rice International under “Clause 28”, the NDIC said it discovered that the liability for the payment of shipping fees was actually for Value Trust International.

    It averred that when the investment company could not come up with the $155,000, representing the shipping agency fees, Gulf Bank decided to pay the fee to Koda International Nigeria Limited.,

    The Bayelsa state government rejected the rice

    NDIC further averred that when Balyesa state government reneged on its promise to take the rice, Gulf Bank was forced to commence an open market sale of the rice, by which time some of the bags were damaged, culled or lost on board.

    It stated that the realities affected the amount realised from the sales, adding that only N454,574,150 was deposited in the account, leaving a disparity of N70, 425,850 between the initial overdrawn position of N525 million in Value Trust Investment Limited account, which has attracted interest since 2001.,

    NDIC also claimed that in a bid to resolve the issue, it had a meeting on September 21, 2005 at the Ikoyi office of Economic and Financial Crime Commission  (EFCC), where it was agreed that N196,642,996.08 be waived from the outstanding N240,811,060.59.

    The claimant alleged that the defendants were to pay the bank the sum of  N44,168,064.51, out of which they only paid N10 million.

    It averred that the defendants have since refused, neglected and failed to liquidate their indebtedness despite repeated demand and  their admittance through a letter dated February 15, 2006.

    At the resumed hearing before Justice Saliu Saidu, counsel to NDIC, Oburume Ayeteno, told the court that it has filed an application to place the suit on undefended list and was ready to argue it.

    Okupe’s lawyer Yemi Gbonegun, however objected to the claimant’s application, stating that the defence had filed its statement.

    He claimed that the said statement of defence cannot be traced in the court’s file, and prayed for time to regularise its processes before the court.

    The judge adjourned to July 8, 2015 to enable the Counsel file his defence.

  • 2015 polls beyond Jonathan, Buhari, says Okupe

    The Presidency on Sunday said that the forthcoming 2015 general elections is beyond the presidential candidates of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), President Goodluck Jonathan and All Progressives Congress (APC), Gen. Muhammadu Buhari.

    Speaking with journalists in Abuja, the Senior Special Assistant to President on Public Affairs, Dr Doyin Okupe said that the elections are about the stability of the country.

    Urging the north to wait for the 2019 Presidency, he said that when Jonathan completes his second term, the region would have what he described as an “unequivocal” and “indisputable” opportunity to rule Nigeria for eight years.

    He noted that the north is more advanced, in terms of politics and political leadership, than any other section of Nigeria.

    According to him, the Yorubas were no longer causing trouble because their son had been allowed to rule Nigeria for eight years.

    “Why can we not concede this remaining four years?” He queried

    He also said that the northern region had always been the Nigeria’s political stabilizing group.

    He said, “The north, since independence, has been the political stabilising group in this country. The north is far more advanced than any section of this country in terms of politics and political leadership. When MKO died and civilian politics was brought back for us to vote, the north sat down and met and decided that because of the injustice done to the Yoruba people, the Yoruba must present the next president at that time.”

    “And they called this nation to accept and buy into a national consensus to patronise Yoruba people. And that had a salutary effect on the political stability of this country. That is the role the north has always played in the politics of Nigeria.”

    “The consideration and implication of the 2015 general elections for this country go beyond Goodluck Jonathan and Muhammadu Buhari. It is beyond both of them. It is about stability of this country. And both the north and the south have always given concessionary consideration to each other. When we went for independence, the north was not ready, the south waited.”

  • Worshipping the false messiahs of Nigeria

    Doyin Okupe presented President Goodluck Jonathan as Jesus Christ in the mostopportune time. We were in Christmas mood and should have been most receptive to the revelation of god among us.

    Okupe’s job description as the Senior Special Assistant to the President on Public Affairs is to appraise and praise his principal. And security on the job lies at the extreme end of hyperbole.

    He has to be (seen to be) sufficiently worshipful of the President or he gets the sack. This incentivizes Okupe to work overtime, talking Jonathan up. And sure enough, it predisposes him to sounding stupid. But this attempt to make up the profane with the sacred shows that Okupe’s sycophancy has mutated into wanton license.

    It couldn’t have been his answer to Wole Soyinka’s portrayal of Jonathan as King Nebuchadnezzar. Soyinka, the Nobel Laureate, called a press conference just to vent and he kept his metaphor within the bounds of the secular. But Okupe, the self-acclaimed Attack Lion, went to a breakfast TV show for expediency and ran into profanities.

    Basically, the overreach testifies that Okupe has run out of material. After placing Jonathan in the peer group of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., Nelson Mandela, Lee Kaun Yew and Barack Obama and ranking him as the greatest Nigerian leader since independence, there are no more fitting mortals left for comparison. So Jonathan has to be equated with Jesus.

    Jonathan deserves some congratulations, though. He is one of the rare humans who have managed to inspire the veneration of their persons. His own evolution to divinity makes him measure up to his wife. Patience, according to Evans Bipi, the arrowhead of an anti-Amaechi gang, was ”Jesus Christ on earth”.

    It’s good that President Jonathan’s catch-up worked out fine. This leaves Nigeria with a couple of Jesus Christ’s in the State House. One Jesus and a spare.

    But the paradox is that the countries that are led by mere mortals fare better than theocratic Nigeria. They have higher standards of living. They have very low child mortality rates. They have public schools that are training their youths to participate in a future where knowledge will become the principal commodity.

    They have efficient transport systems that move people and goods with few instances of avoidable mishaps. They have portable water at the turn of the tap. They maintain healthcare systems that our Jesus doubles resort to when they fall ill.

    Actually, the Jonathans are not the only saviors. There is a glut of claimants to the title of messiah, from the lowest tier up to the presidency. They base their claims on some grudging tokens. The roads that begin to deteriorate with the onset of the first rains. The schools they can’t suffer their children to attend. The hospitals their family members cannot patronize.

    Since May 1999, these false messiahs have been saving only their family and friends. They have been offering the populace more hype than governance deliverables. They have been investing in looking good than doing good. And they have always liked to hire fawning loudmouths.

    But it should be obvious that this kind of salesmanship – borrowing from the

    supernatural realm to improve their bottom line – is counterproductive. It betrays the brand as so flawed that its marketability can only be helped by a bogus label.

    President Jonathan should be worried. He should be concerned that his promoters are nauseating and alienating the multitude instead of converting them. He has continued to pretend to be too absorbed in some otherworldly business to notice the sacrileges his hirelings are perpetrating in his name.

    Jonathan winked at the tweaking of #BringBackOurGirls hashtag into his re-election campaign promo. He was content to let it persist until Washington Post shamed him into issuing a disclaimer. He pretended to be asleep while the police desecrated the premises of the National Assembly on the orders of Inspector General Suleiman Abba.

    And he has yet to wake up. Jonathan must rein in Okupe and other sycophants. Chinua Achebe reminds us that those whose palm kernels were cracked by the gods must remain humble. A shoeless school boy who rose to the presidency cannot afford to have an aide misrepresenting him as a contestant for the position of Jesus Christ.

     

    Emmanuel Uchenna Ugwu

    @emmaugwutheman

  • Okupe’s fulminations reflect something worse

    Okupe’s fulminations reflect something worse

    DOYIN Okupe is Senior Special Assistant on Public Affairs to President Goodluck Jonathan. But the medical practitioner actually sees himself as a second presidential spokesman who prefers the manners of an attack dog. Whatever level is too low for the first presidential spokesman, Reuben Abati, to descend to, Dr Okupe is too glad to cavort in. He attacks the opposition and its leaders with relish; but in equal measure fawns over the president irrespective of his acute leadership failings. He railed against Governor Kashim Shettima of Borno State for suggesting that Boko Haram militants were better equipped and motivated than our troops, and is unperturbed that the governor has been proved right. He also lampooned impeached Governor Murtala Nyako of Adamawa State for accusing the president of genocide against the North. Though he was hastily and maliciously impeached, Governor Nyako has also been proved right.

    Now, Dr Okupe has trained his guns on former Vice President Atiku Abubakar, ladling out spoonfuls of invectives and acidic fulminations. Alhaji Abubakar had sensibly and restrainedly warned that if Boko Haram was allowed to continue its vicious war against the nation, the entire Northeast could be overrun. Dr Okupe replied that President Jonathan’s critics needed their heads examined. Said he: “Atiku says that we have problems with leadership, both political leadership and military leadership. For a former Vice President, I believe the comments passed by Atiku Abubakar, I don’t want to use the word ‘irresponsible’, but I will say it is a little bit out of place.” In short, Alhaji Abubakar, in the opinion of Dr Okupe, is irresponsible. We should measure our distaste for Dr Okupe’s ways. If his methods and obscenities do not please President Jonathan, he would have replaced him. Worse, employing someone like Dr Okupe is apparently an unflattering reflection of the president’s worldview.

  • FG unprepared for insurgency – Presidency

    FG unprepared for insurgency – Presidency

    The Federal Government was totally unprepared for the insurgency that has ravaged the northern part of Nigeria, the Presidency has said.

    Speaking at the public forum on the impact of Jonathan’s administration on Tuesday in Abuja, the Senior Special Assistant to the President on Public Affairs, Dr. Doyin Okupe, said those that were bent on rating the present government based on the worsening insurgency in Nigeria were wrong.

    He said: “Somebody wants us to believe that the only testimony of performance of this administration is insecurity, (but) that’s not true. This government was totally unprepared for the insurgency.

    “Nobody planned for insurgency. And yet insurgency is a serious problem on its own to contain. America with all their power and resources were in Iraq for up to about five or six years with over 400,000 soldiers put on ground and yet see Iraq the way it is today.”

    He noted that it was a national misfortune that the Chibok girls were still held captive by the terrorists, and stressed that the cease fire agreement between the federal government and Boko Haram was at the instance of the sect.

    “Yes a cease fire was announced and it was at the instance of the insurgents. What the President has demonstrated today is that he said that all options are on the table. So when the insurgents call for talk, how can anybody blame the government for that? If it doesn’t work out, that is not the fault of the government. That is actually the nature of the insurgents. Because they are factionalized, their line of command is not clearly defined.

    “So this government’s capability and performance cannot solely be represented on the outcome of the insurgency in Nigeria. There is agriculture, education, infrastructure, health, social development and many other component parts,” he said.

    Okupe further argued that Nigeria had three tiers of government and Nigerians should start demanding for the dividends of democracy from their respective state and local governments.

    “There are three tiers of government – federal, state and local. The federal government only takes 48.5 per cent of the total revenue for the country. The other 48.5 per cent is taken by the states and all the local governments put together.

    “But everybody puts their eyes on only that of the federal government and that is wrong. It is right to put their eyes on the federal government, but it is wrong to put their eyes only on the federal government because the share of the money for development and administration is equal. And out of the federal government’s share, about 15 per cent goes to foreign affairs and military, which the states do not bear at all,” he added.

     

     

     

  • #Bring Back Our Bulldog (BBOB)

    In Doyin Okupe,the presidential bulldog roars! And its object of irritation is the BBOG coalition, which keeps on telling the Jonathan presidency the “satanic verses” it would rather not hear; showing it the hateful self-image it would rather not see!

    But as a dog barks out of fear and not out of might, the presidential bulldog roars to cover its fear and panic.

    Bring Back Our Girls has sent Doyin Okupe into a tizzy. On Chibok and its ill-fated girls, Goodluck has murdered sleep, so Jonathan will sleep no more — to parody Shakespeare in his play, Macbeth.

    But that presidential plight is driving the presidential bulldog irritable and excitable.  But alas! Chibok would just not go away!

    For Okupe, the Chibok saga would appear especially haunting, even on the personal front. The other day, this medic-turned-presidential bluffer was the reported author of the president’s own satanic verse, to cancel out the satanic verse it would rather not see.

    In an infamous parody of the hashtag #BringBackOurGirls, font-for-font, syllable-for-syllable, Dr. Okupe came up with the thoughtless #BringBackGoodluck2015. But the hare-brained idea drew so much odium, and its mass flak hinted at #ThrowOutJonathan2015, that even the president ordered its immediate scrapping!

    So, each time Okupe tries to show his loyalty to the chief, in his own peculiarly eerie way, he ends up in shame. Yet, he appears unable or unwilling — or both — to learn from his own exclusive debacles.

    The latest offensive of the presidential battler against the Chibok girls and their parents is his panic twittering. He called for the disbandment of the Bring Back Our Girls coalition — but who will do that: Police AIG Mbu Joseph Mbu, who for being reported as controversial (well, is he not?), bundled the reporter into gaol? Or the president himself, claiming imperial powers?

    Mbu may misguide himself that he can, with fiat, abolish citizens’ rights; and even flatterers may kid Jonathan that, with the famed humongous powers of the Nigerian president, he has powers to change a man into a woman or vice-versa! But as long as Nigeria’s democracy lives, and everyone plays by the rule, Okupe’s wish remains a pipe dream and rude nightmare.

    Still, in the interim, the bulldog is entitled to its barking rights (woof! woof!), even if it is all petulance, bad grace and wilful wishful thinking.

    The Doyin Okupe tweets, according to a report in The Punch of October 16: BBOG group are a “sordid affair”; they “exploit the national tragedy for selfish gains” and seek cheap attention; they “abuse and harass” Mr. President, “roaming the streets” of Abuja; they must change their tactics: “The present style is neither working nor producing the desired results” — says who?  And if that were so, why is the bull dog in such excitable tizzy?

    And the bulldog-ic sour grape: “Their outing with 48 people (so Okupe was busy counting!) on Thursday was a no-show.”  And the clincher: “With the poor and shameful outing by Dr. Oby Ezekwesili and her team, they should be disbanded and asked to go home …”

    Mr. President, please #BringBackOurBulldog (BBOB) before it  inflicts on itself irreparable harm!

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

  • Fed Govt’s puzzling silence on $15m arms deal

    DOYIN Okupe is not one of President Goodluck Jonathan’s  most effective spokesmen, given his brusqueness and sometimes uncouth attacks on critics of the government he serves. Last week, he once again waded into the controversy surrounding the Nigerian government’s $15m impounded in South Africa, and he did it with characteristic controversiality and illogic. Like everyone who has spoken for the government on the issue, particularly with reference to the leasing of Pastor Ayo Oritsejafor’s jet to ferry the money to South Africa, Dr Okupe defended the increasingly controversial Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN) president, and went even further than common sense would dictate. As he put it hyperbolically, “The linking of Pastor Ayo Oritsejafor is the most unfortunate thing; to put the very respectable, responsible, honest and sincere President of CAN in this matter is the extreme of mischief. It just shows you what Nigerians do, they go to any extent to politicise everything. What bothers me here is the manner with which people want to bring down Pastor Ayo Oritsejafor on this matter. It is pure absurdity.”

    Dr Okupe’s patronising exoneration of Pastor Oritsejafor is not even the annoying part of the presidential spokesman’s defence of the government’s irresponsible handling of the scandal, a scandal they insist is not a scandal but mere politicisation of security matter. Hear Dr Okupe’s tendentious remark: “The Nigerian government cannot share all information about the issue ($15m) because it is a security matter. It is an issue which we cannot just bring to public domain. For goodness sake, we need to have some quiet innocent support. I am surprised that Nigerians want to discuss security issues openly and publicly when a war is still going on. These are very serious national security affairs, and running a government is not the same thing as running a Shoprite, where everything is on the table and on display.”

    The presidential spokesman is not the most patient, level-headed or logical of men, and his argument here rankles badly for its Third World and retrogressive quality. It is not clear where he got the impression that security matters cannot be discussed, or that information about smuggled funds cannot be shared. The movement of the money broke Nigerian laws, and then went on to break South African laws. Is Dr Okupe suggesting that whenever security matter is involved laws can be broken? Why then do we have laws, when they can be broken whenever it is expedient ? In the implausible opinion of Dr Okupe, the ongoing war in the Northeast justifies the subversion of the constitution. This is obviously the opinion of the Jonathan government and of course the pliant and conniving National Assembly: that obedience to the laws of the land must be contingent upon a number of factors, most of them subjective and irrational. If they get away with the arms deal scandal, as they seem set to do, it will be a precursor to other egregious violations of the law and the constitution.

    Dr Okupe spoke fawningly of Pastor Oritsejafor in a manner that will obviously please the CAN president. But it is clear that neither Dr Okupe nor Pastor Oritsejafor, nor yet the presidency understands the meaning of government or the dire implications of subordinating the presidency to the whims of Dr Jonathan and the lessor pastor. Alas, the decay of governance in Nigeria has just begun.