I’m IBB’s ideal presidential candidate for 2023 – Doyin Okupe

Doyin Okupe, former aide to ex-President Goodluck Jonathan on Friday said former Military President Ibrahim Badamasi Babangida (IBB) had him in mind when he described the ideal next president.

Babangida last week had said the next president must be an individual who speaks to the citizens, understand the economy and have friends in every region.

“I have started visualising a good Nigerian leader. That is, a person who travels across the country and has a friend virtually everywhere he travels to, and he knows at least one person that he can communicate with,” IBB had said.

Speaking with Arise TV on Friday, Okupe said IBB “had me in mind” when he listed those qualities.
He said: “There’s no local government in this country that I’ve not visited five times. I’m the most fairly well-prepared person to be president.

“I think IBB got it right; believe me sincerely. That person should be one person who can pick up his phone and call at least one person in every local government of the country.

“That means he must be somebody who has socially interacted across sections of Nigeria and understands the terrain,” the former presidential aide said.

“I’m in my sixties, and I believe by what IBB have actually said — I’ve not spoken to him — I have a feeling that he had me in mind. I must be one of the three persons he had in mind.

“Believe me, sincerely, there’s no local government in this country that I’ve not visited five times; there’s none. And I’m the most fairly well-prepared person to be President.”