Doyin Okupe Conviction: Peter Obi Reacts
The Presidential candidate of the Labour Party, Peter Obi, has reacted to the conviction of the party’s Presidential Campaign Council Director-General, Doyin Okupe, over money laundering violation by the court. Obi has said that the development would not break his resolve to achieve his objective, which is to be Nigeria’s President.
Obi said that he was undaunted by the conviction of Okupe and would continue with his campaign and allow the due process of law to take its course.
This was made known by Obi during an interaction with journalists in Uyo at the Nigeria Union of Journalists (NUJ), Akwa Ibom State Council Secretariat on Monday.
Peter Obi’s reaction
The Labour Party (LP) Presidential candidate said, “I am hearing about it (the conviction) just like you. I am still studying what is coming out of the Court and everything. I believe in the rule of law. It is not going to demoralize me.
“Today, when I arrived Akwa Ibom somebody asked me why I haven’t been using my aircraft because it has been grounded and all that, and I said to him that nothing demoralizes me.
“In my life, I have never stayed where they dropped me, otherwise, I would have been where they dropped me before. This election, if they like, let them do anything about people who are around me. I will get there.’’
On the impression that he does not have the political structure to win the presidential election, Peter Obi said he was determined to dismantle the existing political structure in the country which encouraged corruption and spread poverty among Nigerians.
He said, “The structure they have today is the structure we want to destroy. It is the structure of criminality. It is structure that produced 133 million people living in poverty,
“It is the structure that produced 20 million out-of-school children. It is the structure that has made Nigeria surpass India in infant mortality. It is the structure that will destroy Nigeria and we want to destroy that structure.’’
The LP presidential candidate added that his priority would be how to secure a United Nigeria and pull people out of poverty.
He said, “My problem is how to create a future and make Nigeria a productive and not a consuming nation.”
The Metro Lawyer (TML) had earlier reported that a Federal High Court sitting in Abuja on Monday, December 19, 2022, convicted Doyin Okupe for violating the Money Laundering Act.
Okupe was found guilty of receiving the sum of N240 million from the former National Security Adviser (NSA), Col. Sambo Dasuki.
He was sentenced by Justice Ijeoma Ojukwu to two years imprisonment in the case filed by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), who stated that the accused breached the Money Laundering Act.
