Nigerian author and columnist Reno Omokri has come for Charley Boy over his disparaging post about the late Doyin Okupe.
Omokri wrote:
Dear Charly Boy,
Dr. Doyin Okupe was my colleague. We both served as Presidential spokesmen under President Jonathan, who did so much for the entertainment industry. From personal experience working with him, I know he was a good man who served Nigeria meritoriously and to the best of his ability.
He was also the FIRST prominent politician to publicly back Peter Obi in his bid to become President of Nigeria in 2023. He went against a person of his own ethnicity and gave his all to Mr. Obi. He leveraged his relationship with President Obasanjo and other prominent Nigerian statesmen for the benefit of Mr. Obi’s Presidential campaign.
That is how detribalised he was.
And he NEVER wavered. He only parted ways with Peter Obi and the Obidient movement, which he helped build, when he was unfortunately convicted by a court for politically motivated charges and did not want the incident to affect Peter Obi’s chances.
Even at that, he remained loyal to the movement until AFTER the election and SUBSEQUENT to the Supreme Court decision to the effect that Bola Ahmed Tinubu was the lawfully elected President. Throughout the campaigns and the elections, he remained faithful.
Even though he privately had concerns about the domination of one ethnicity in the Peter Obi campaign structure, he never made such observations public but confided in some of us.
After the election, he did not malign Peter Obi, as several former associates of Mr. Obi did, including those who share Obi’s ethnicity. He simply expressed his regrets about the way he was shabbily treated and moved on.
As such, it is bewildering why you would say such horrid things about him, especially after his death, when he is not able to defend himself.
Please, I appeal to you, as an elder, to treat Dr. Okupe’s memory with some decorum. We will all die. It is only a matter of time. It may be prudent, therefore, not to set a precedent that others may use to besmirch our legacies when we are no more.
Thank you, and may God bless you.”
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