ACN urges Jonathan to sack Okupe

Action Congress of Nigeria, ACN, yesterday, insisted that Dr Doyin Okupe, President Goodluck Jonathan’s Senior Special Assistant on Public Affairs, is not fit to hold the position given his alleged past corruption and criminal conversion of state funds and warns the Economic and Financial Crime Commission, EFCC, against any cover up.

In a statement in Ibadan by its National Publicity Secretary, Alhaji Lai Mohammed, the party described as false and misleading a statement credited to the spokesman of the EFCC, Mr Wilson Uwujaaren, that he is not aware that Okupe is under investigation, as it is on record that Okupe was in the custody of the EFCC in Lagos for almost one month between July and August 2006, on account of a contract he obtained from Imo State but which he failed to execute after collecting  mobilisation fee.

The party warned the EFCC and other relevant agencies, especially the Presidency not to attempt to falsify and obliterate records to give Okupe a clean bill of health in relation to these allegations as Okupe’s fraudulent activities were not limited to Benue and Imo states alone and were too well documented for any attempt at a cover up.

The party further warned all those who know how to bury dead bodies to remember those who also know how to exhume them.

The party reiterates its earlier position that retaining Dr Doyin Okupe as the administration’s spokesman on Public Affairs is not just an insult to the collective integrity of all Nigerian but also flies in the face of the administration’s flaunted commitment to fighting corruption.

It reminded the Presidency that the President’s spokesman is the face not only of the President but of Nigeria as a whole and that responsibility cannot rest on the shoulders of a person morally damaged.

Nigeria the party further admonished is definitely not in want of qualified individuals with talent and credentials for the position of a Senior Special Assistant on Public Affairs and retaining Dr Doyin Okupe in this position in the face of incontrovertible evidence as to his unsuitability will only give credence to the widely held belief that this administration is a haven for persons with criminal pasts.