Doyin Okupe, a former director-general of the Labour Party (LP) presidential campaign, says President Bola Tinubu legitimately won the 2023 election.
Okupe, who resigned from LP after the polls — based on “ideological grounds”— has continuously praised Tinubu’s administration.
Speaking in Lagos on Thursday, Okupe said Peter Obi, LP’s presidential candidate in 2023, could not have won the keenly contested election.
“If Peter Obi or the Labour Party says APC rigged elections, how come Obi was able to win in the home base of President Bola Tinubu?,” NAN quoted Okupe as saying.
“How come APC lost election in the home base of the sitting President (Muhammadu Buhari)? How come APC lost election in the home base of the Secretary to that government.
“So, the accusations about rigging do not hold water; they do not hold water at all.
“The truth of the matter is that under the best of conditions, the results we got may not have been the exact results, but they will have that ratio.
“I was in a Labour Party; we couldn’t have done better than we did. I know that for some reasons, but that is a discussion for another day.”
Okupe said the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and LP are “unrealistic” in their allegations that “the presidency was stolen”.
He added that every election conducted in the country since 1960 has been “rigged” in some way.
“Perhaps, an exception was MKO Abiola’s election because of the unique nature of the voting pattern,” he said.
