The Director General of Obi-Dati Presidential Campaign Council, Akin Osuntokun, says he has no moral burden stepping into a higher calling with his new appointment.
He said this while speaking on a television programme on Wednesday.
This is as he described Dr Doyin Okupe’s travail as a bitter- sweet experience, saying that “Bitter in the sense that he had to leave in those circumstances and of course we had the judgement that essentially exculpates the person standing before her. She said it was an honest mistake. The judge called it an honest mistake. Okupe deserves a better exit than that but life must go on.”
Asked if he has the backing of former President Olusegun Obasanjo, he said: “Yes, he is a father figure to us not as allies. I was the immediate regional coordinator in the South-West, so this is just an elevation. it’s not that i am just joining the campaign. People that are saying it’s Obasanjo’s slot are at liberty to say so. the person that recommended me is not an issue, my capacity to do the job is what matters.”
Asked if he’s a full member of the Labour Party, he said: “People get this wrong, the Presidential campaign organisation is not the same as the party hierarchy. When I was appointed the campaign director of publicity in 2002 by President Obasanjo, I was not a member of PDP. if i take the responsibility, once i assume the office, effectively i become a member. so to that extent, i am a member of the Labour Party”.
He therefore declared that he has abandoned his Senatorial ambition, “No. I have abandoned it. We did a press release in that respect. What law do I have to breech for accepting the Obi/Datti Director of campaign?
“Joining the Obi camp is a higher national priority for me than any other aspiration. As a citizen of this country, who has the anticipation of what to move Nigeria forward, you can’t compare the aspiration to be in the Senate to the position that I am going to occupy. There’s no way I can define moral priority better than the path that I have followed. I have no moral burden stepping into higher calling and the step I am taking is of greater moral consequence for Nigeria.”
