Obasanjo - 'Okupe is a hypocrite,' Ex-President says

Former President Olusegun Obasanjo has described Doyin Okupe,  a former Senior Special Assistant to ex-President Goodluck Jonathan on Public Affairs as a hypocrite.

Obasanjo stated this in reaction to Okupe's Facebook post last week Friday, March 18, 2016, where he described Obasanjo as the “undisputed and authentic” leader of the People's Democratic Party (PDP) in the South West.

Okupe had said: “Senator Buruji Kashamu is not the leader of the PDP in the South West. He is not even the leader of the party in Ogun State. He leads an NGO called Omo Ilu which engages in empowerment programmes in the state, mainly in the Ogun East Senatorial district.

“Baba Obasanjo still remains the undisputed and authentic leader of the PDP in the South-West. The fact that he tore his membership card is not tantamount to resignation from the party. An action he has not undertaken to date.

“Tearing of the membership card though a very negative action is undoubtedly a knee-jerk reaction to certain unacceptable or intolerable happenings within the party which can and will be redressed."

Speaking to Premium Times on Tuesday, March 22, 2016, Obasanjo said Okupe did not know what he was saying, and should be ignored.

“I was a national leader of the party for eight years, so, how would I now reduce myself to becoming its leader in the South West,” Obasanjo said.

He noted that Okupe was one of the people who pushed for his expulsion from the party.

The former president noted that his decision to tear his PDP membership card signified he was done with the party and partisan politics.