Doyin Okupe denies equating Jonathan with Mandela
Doyin Okupe denies equating Jonathan with Mandela
The Senior Special Assistant to President Goodluck Jonathan on Public Affairs, Dr. Doyin Okupe, has denied equating the President with the late former President of South Africa, Mr. Nelson Mandela.
A statement by Okupe's Head of Media in his office, Mr. Bamidele Salam, said the statement, which had gone viral on the social media, where the Presidential aide was quoted as saying that only Jonathan was in the position to be likened to Mandela in Nigeria, was an invention by some individuals whose motive he said was to mislead innocent users of the social media.
Okupe is currently being quoted on the social media as saying on a television interview that "Nelson Mandela was a great leader, he lived his life for the people of South Africa.
"I check(sic) through the history of Nigeria among our past and present leaders, the only one we can call our Mandela is President Jonathan.
"There is no President in Nigeria that has sacrificed 13 hours to discuss with ASUU."
While giving a background to this statement purportedly likening Jonathan to the former South African President, Okupe said the AIT programme, where he allegedly made the statement, was recorded at about 5pm on Thursday, December 5, whereas the death of the South African leader was announced almost four hours later.
He, therefore, wondered how he could have spoken about a living Mandela as if he were dead and then compares him with any other person.
The statement further said, "It is clear that the authors of these false quotes are linked by the same desire to mislead innocent members through a consistent pattern of published falsehood in a manner as to portray Okupe as an enemy of adherents of a particular faith, geo political zone or some other noble cause in the polity."
