Doyin Okupe, the director general of the Labour Party’s (LP) presidential campaign committee, has made fun of the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) over a gathering that was recently conducted in favour of Bola Tinubu, the party’s 2023 presidential candidate.
In an interview with Channels Television on Sunday, October 9, Mr. Okupe referred to the “five million-man” rally in Lagos in support of Mr. Tinubu as a “catch up” that wasn’t well done.
The gathering was called by Musiliu Akinsanya, also known as MC Oluomo, the state’s chairman of the transport workers.
It was in response to previous rallies held in Lekki, FESTAC, Ikeja, and Surulere in favor of Peter Obi, the LP candidate.
While criticisms have continued to trail the rally which grounded activities in the state, Mr Okupe said the counter rally did not match the zeal of Nigerian youth fronting “the Obidient movement” across the country.
“One of the greatest things that has happened in this dispensation is that a four-month-old party is now so much in leadership that parties that have existed for 20 years and more are playing a catch-up game and it is not being done very well.
“I want to congratulate the APC for the efforts made today. What you saw was not a Lagos rally. We are a very sophisticated group, a group driven by and powered by youths,” Mr Okupe said.
Without evidence, the LP campaign DG claimed that people seen at Mr Tinubu’s rally were imported from other South-west states and should not be compared to the “organic” crowd that attended rallies held in support of Mr Obi.
“What you saw this morning was a South-west rally, not really a Lagos rally. If you give it as a Lagos rally, it is just a fair comparison with what happened in Festac.
“You will recall that the October 1, LP rally by Obidents took place in an unprecedented and organic manner in Lekki, Festac, Ikeja and Surulere — in four different locations.
“What you saw in Lagos today was nothing compared to any one of them (referring to the four locations), maybe at least it is at par with one of them. What APC has been able to do, having seen the LP movement, is still about a quarter of what we did,” he boasted.
