In the last few days, the Action congress of Nigeria, through its spokesman, Alhaji Lai Mohammed, has saturated the
media with sundry vitriolic, but baseless attacks against the office and person of the Senior Special Assistant to the President on Public Affairs, Dr Doyin Okupe.
It is sad that the AC and Alhaji Mohammed would reduce the thrust of national discourse against the backdrop of mounting challenges, to personal attacks and mudslinging.
The insistence of the Action congress that Dr Okupe should resign because he was alleged to have been involved in some unwholesome acts while executing some contracts in Benue and Imo state, years ago, smacks of hypocrisy as the party lacks any moral structure to speak about corruption or any form of criminal culpability. It is curious that even when the Economic and Financial Crime Commission (EFCC) said Dr Okupe is not under any form of investigation the Action Congress is insisting on their imaginations and ludicrous claims.
Dr Okupe was appointed by President Goodluck Jonathan for a specific purpose. The mandate is to put on the front burner the laudable achievements of the present administration, explain policies as they affect Nigerians, build a bridge between the citizenry and the presidency.
It is also erroneous to insinuate or conclude that Dr Okupe’s response to attacks by Pastor Tunde Bakare and Mallam Nasir E-Rufai, were caustic. The response was apt and simply punched holes in their conclusions in the areas of the administration’s achievements.
If the call by Dr Okupe for unified disposition in the face of present challenges is misconstrued, it is only rational that Dr Okupe puts the issues, backed with data, in proper perspective. There is no doubt that Mohammed and his co travelers, constrained and motivated by a cocktail of subjective and twisted reasons, would always want to misinterpret call for national duty
At this juncture, it is pertinent the hypocritical high ground of the Action Congress is highlighted with incontrovertible facts. A common saying insists that whoever approaches equity must endeavor to do so with clean hands. But facts on ground suggest the Action Congress and Mohammed have not done so.
First, is the case of the Speaker of the House of Assembly, Adeyemi Ikuforiji who currently has a 20 count charge of fraud hanging over his head. While the Action Congress wants Dr Okupe to be hanged for spurious allegations carried by an online site, the party has done all it could to cover up and block all attempts to remove the Speaker and prosecute him.
A petition had alleged that Ikuforiji, who had been quizzed severally by the EFCC, had used his position as speaker to collect a monthly running cost of N500 million on a first line charge. According to the petition, he had collected not less than N7 Billion which he has been funneling abroad to buy properties through proxies, and his automobile company called Brown Motors located at Maryland, Ikeja, Lagos.
The petition also said Ikuforiji committed perjury by denying his record of conviction in his INEC forms submitted in 2007, and 2011, when the truth is, he had been convicted for credit card fraud in August 2005, with case number 27-CV-05-009568, and for driving under the influence of alchohol on April 22, 2001.
In the face of all these, Mohammed who wants Dr Okupe to be sacked, don’t think his Speaker is being fairly treated by the EFCC. He had said “ the EFCC invited the media to cover a planned arraignment of the speaker even when he and his lawyers have not been informed …the EFCC should adhere strictly to the laid down procedures and respect the rights of citizens in carrying out its anti-corruption battle, especially because NO ONE CAN BE ADJUDGED GUILTY UNTIL HE HAS BEEN SO PRONOUNCED BY A COURT OF LAW”. And the question rears its head: Had Dr Okupe been convicted by a court or indicted by any committee or panel?
The leader of the party, Bola Tinubu, has been battling strings of allegations bothering certificate forgery, money laundering and operating foreign bank accounts. He is alleged to have forged his BSc Business Administration and Economics from Chicago University in the United states. He also allegedly lied that he is a Certified Public Accountant (CPA) in the United States.
His foreign account are Citibank NY account numbers 39483134, 39483396, 46550279566,004400220, and 39936383. First Heritage Bank, in Illinois, 263226700, HSBC, Great Portland street, London, 1720447101;. His wife Senator Oluremi Tinubu also has hers: HSBC , London, account number 41421522 with sort code, 400315.
Tinubu also lied about his age. On INEC form CF 001 2003, he said he was born on March 29, 1952, but on his passport with number, A1883991 he said he was born on March 29 1954 I Iragbiji, Osun State.
The aforementioned are not baseless attacks on Tinubu or Ikuforiji but facts of the matter and an attempt to to underscore the hypocrisy in the conclusions by the Action Congress and Mohammed. It should be put on the front burner for all to see.
The call on Dr Okupe to resign based on falsehood is kindergarten, ridiculous and a slimy act of desperation on the part of the Action Congress. Just like the PDP Zonal publicity secretary, Kayode Babade said “ the Action Congress must fumigate its own house to get rid of grossly corrupt and criminal-minded elements in its own fold before seeking to clean other peoples’ house”