Posted on: 01:38 Tue, 22 Mar 2016



Dr. Doyin Okupe, a former senior
aide to ex-President Olusegun
Obasanjo of Nigeria, Tuesday
morning explained why he wanted
Rivers state governor, Nyesom
Wike as well as Transport Minister
Rotimi Amaechi out of the state in
any subsequent election rerun
exercise.

Okupe, who was also Senior Special
Assistant on Public Affairs to
Jonathan had said that Wike and
Amaechi, who was the governor of
the state, as well as their loyalists
be moved out because of the level
of violence that marred Saturday’s
election rerun in Rivers into the
state House of Assembly and the
National Assembly.

He also demanded the prosecution
of all those involved in the violence
that claimed up to 10 lives
including that of a member of the
National Youth Service Corps.

But Okupe’s suggestion did not go
down well with some Nigerians
who condemned his position on
social media, forcing the Peoples
Democratic Party (PDP) chieftain to
clear the air on what his intentions
were.

“I have seen and read many
responses to my post on violence
accompanying our electoral
process. This is the beautiful part of
the social media. It is interactive.

“It is interesting that most of the
comments have nothing to do with
the killings and loss of lives
involved in this mayhem. It will
appear that we have come to accept
killings and thuggery as part of our
national life.

“As Dele Giwa said: ‘nothing shocks
us as Nigerians again’. But this
ought not to be so.

“For me, I was particularly
overwhelmed by the killings and
especially the death of the innocent
and young ‘youth corper’, just
trying to serve his country. I felt
highly repulsed and too deeply
pained.

“Regrettably, I really did not
consider the legal and moral
implications of actually moving a
state governor out of the state. I
truly never intended to undermine
the mandate of the rivers people
freely given to Governor Wike. I
am truly sorry about that.

“My thoughts were mainly focused
on what we must do to avert this
unnecessary and wanton bloodshed
and deaths following our elections
nationwide,” he said in a reaction
to comments by some Nigerians to
his earlier position.

Okupe said he had watched the
American presidential primaries in
the various states and caucuses and
had never seen any police officer
close to the various venues even
though there must be a winner and
a loser.

“Nigeria and Nigerians must move
away from this derogatory
barbarism and move along with the
rest of the civilized world.

“If the violence that marred our
electoral process in 1966 is still
very prevalent in our elections in
2016, then there is something
seriously wrong with Nigeria and
the way we are and the earlier we
all address this the better for us
all,” he added.

In the earlier post, Okupe had
indicted Wike, who is his party
man, Amaechi, a former ally and
now a member of the All
Progressives Congress, the
Independent National Electoral
Commission and the security agents
for the level of violence that scaled
the election rerun.

He also demanded a stop to the use
of NYSC members for elections
especially in volatile areas of the
country.

“All principal participants must
accept responsibility for this
intolerable acts of savagery. By all
principals I mean the PDP, APC and
their leaderships, the INEC, and the
entire gamut of our security
agencies.

“In 2016, the wanton destruction of
lives and properties that
accompany our elections in varying
degrees is no longer excusable.

“The frequent deaths of citizens,
electoral officials, members of the
security forces has assumed highly
barbaric proportions. Of particular
importance is the reported death of
innocent Youth corpers.

“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.

He wondered why INEC would still
be involved in the movement of
electoral materials on election day
rather than do this two weeks
before the election in company of
security agents.

He also suggested that in special
volatile areas like Rivers and others
as to be advised by police and the
intelligence agencies, a minimum
of five armed personnels per
polling station with availability of
standby re-enforcement in each
Local Government Area should be
considered.

Source: PMNews