Okupe’s Conviction: ‘They Can’t Demoralise Me’, Peter Obi Says

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The presidential candidate of the Labour Party, Peter Obi has reacted to the conviction of Doyin Okupe, the Director-General of the party’s Presidential Campaign Council for acting in breach of the money laundering Act.

A Federal High Court in Abuja, in a judgment delivered by Justice Ijeoma Ojukwu, found Okupe guilty on counts 34 to 59 of the charge the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), preferred against him.

However, he was discharged and acquitted of counts 1 to 33 of the charge which bordered on corruption.

While reacting to the conviction of the party’s Presidential Campaign Council DG, Obi said that the situation would demoralize him. He further noted that he believes in the rule of law.

The presidential flagbearer of the LP made this statement on Monday during an interactive session with journalists in Uyo at the Nigeria Union of Journalists (NUJ), Akwa Ibom State Council Secretariat.

Obi said, “I am hearing about it (the conviction) just like you. I am still studying what is coming out of the Court and everything. I believe in the rule of law. It is not going to demoralize me.

“Today, when I arrived in Akwa Ibom somebody asked me why I haven’t been using my aircraft because it has been grounded and all that, and I said to him that nothing demoralizes me.

“In my life, I have never stayed where they dropped me, otherwise, I would have been where they dropped me before. This election, if they like, let them do anything about people who are around me. I will get there.’’

Speaking about party structures in the country, the Labour party presidential candidate and former governor of Anambra state further stressed that he aims to destroy the current party structures Nigeria has.

He said, “The structure they have today is the structure we want to destroy. It is the structure of criminality. It is a structure that produced 133 million people living in poverty.

“It is the structure that produced 20 million out-of-school children. It is the structure that has made Nigeria surpass India in infant mortality. It is the structure that will destroy Nigeria and we want to destroy that structure. My problem is how to create a future and make Nigeria a productive and not a consuming nation.”