Okupe: Yoruba will vote for Jonathan

Senior Special Assistant to the President on Public Affairs, Dr Doyin Okupe, on Wednesday, said Yoruba in South-West will vote massively for President Goodluck Jonathan in Saturday’s presidential election in view of the antecedent of the race as defenders of truth, equity and justice in Nigeria.
In a lecture titled ‘THE YORUBAS: OUR POLITICS YESTERDAY AND TODAY’ delivered at the Lagos Country club, Ikeja, Okupe recalled that historically, the Yoruba have acted as conscience of the Nigerian Nation who ensured that no ethnic group is subjugated or marginalised in the political process.
The presidential aide said having benefitted from a national concession which enabled the race to enjoy two terms in office as President during Chief Olusegun Obasanjo’s administration, the Yoruba need to rise in defence of the minority Ijaw Nation as represented by Jonathan whom he said has justified the first mandate given him by being fair to all parts of Nigeria in his programmes and policies.
While eulogising the political leadership of the late Chief Obafemi Awolowo in the old Western Region, Okupe said the late sage and the entire Yoruba political class held dearly to the principles of a restructured federation, fiscal autonomy, regionalism and balanced economic development which the National conference adopted and which Jonathan is committed to implementing in his second term in office.
Okupe said: “It is an irony that the platform for seeking these reforms, which the Yoruba had agitated for in decades, was only recently provided by a man from the minority ethnic group who emerged Nigerian President by providence in 2011. That platform is the National Conference, which among others, has come up with far-reaching recommendations which, if and when implemented, will solve quite a number of our social, political and economic distortions and restore Nigeria to the path of sustainable growth and stability. These resolutions will have salutary effect on all ethnic groups in Nigeria who will have the opportunity of self- determination and development of their natural endowments”
He added that the best way to sustain the legacies of the founding fathers of the Nigerian Nation is to ensure that political players of Yoruba extraction shun politics of wealth acquisition and desperation for power to the detriment of the general good which, he said, had become the hallmark of certain politicians.
While describing the alliance that led to the formation of the All Progressive Congress (APC) as “a personal agenda of a few clothed in a pseudo-nationalist attire to attain power by all means including falsehood, forgery, deception driven by wealth acquired through unprecedented greed, avarice and grand larceny”, Okupe said all Nigerians of good conscience need to rise and demand that politics be played as a means to a noble end and that no section of the country must be foist with a second class mentality.
While answering questions on the achievements of the President in office, the SSA Public Affairs said the revamping of Nigeria’s moribund transportation system in road, rail and air, the construction of new power plants and completion of 13 major dams across the country as well as the revolution in the agricultural sector are unprecedented in the nation’s history.
He added that Jonathan’s administration managed the Nigerian economy creditably and that was why most of the manufacturing businesses in the Automotive, agro-allied, cement and other sectors, which were on a low ebb before 2011, have all increased production by between 18 and 50% in the last four years.
Okupe promised that the President is committed to working harder on consolidating on his first term in office through massive job creation to ensure that the full benefits of the Transformation Agenda result in creating a new, stronger and prosperous Nigeria.