President’s Senior Special Assistant on Public Affairs, Dr. Doyin Okupe
By Onyebuchi Ezigbo
The Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN) has said there is no moral or legal basis for the continued retention in office of the President’s Senior Special Assistant on Public Affairs, Dr. Doyin Okupe.
The party challenged President Goodluck Jonathan to tell Nigerians and the world at large why he is yet to fire Okupe in the face of incontrovertible evidence that he was involved in contract scam of a whopping sum of N886 million as confirmed by the Benue State Government.
In a statement issued on Monday by its National Publicity Secretary, Alhaji Lai Mohammed, the party said with the statement credited to the Benue State Government, the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), Jonathan must urgently institute a thorough investigation of these allegations.
ACN regretted that instead Okupe “is comfortably nested at the bosom of the Presidency and speaking loudly for no less a person than President Jonathan himself.”
It said there can be no credible investigation of these allegations as long as Okupe still occupied his post, adding that the President must fire him to allow for credible investigation of the allegations the party argued.
According to the party, all attempts by the PDP and the legion of hired writers and hatchet men to defend the indefensible have collapsed like a pack of cards.
The party said calls by the PDP for the Speaker of the Lagos State House of Assembly should to resign could not be justified as Ikuforiji owes his office to an election and he is not an appointee like Dr Doyin Okupe.
Moreover, ACN said Ikuforiji is already before a court of law and remains innocent until proven guilty.
Responding to the defence of Okupe’s attorneys that the Presidential aide cannot be asked to resign since the breach arose out of a civil contract, ACN said non-performance of a contract after being paid is tantamount to fraud.
“To describe this kind of fraud as a civil matter underscores how Jonathan’s administration has become such a magnet and sanctuary for knaves and other morally bankrupt people as non-performance of a contract in law amounts to obtaining money under false pretences.
“In yet another desperate attempt to keep Dr Doyin Okupe afloat in this flotsam of serious allegations we are told that it is Messrs Value Trust investments Limited and not Dr Doyin Okupe who absconded with the N886.8 million.
“While it is true in law that a duly formed and registered company is a separate legal entity from those who are its shareholders or directors a court is however entitled to pierce, rend or remove the corporate veil in holding that monies received by such a company have been regarded as having being obtained by an individual who is usually the directing mind of the company,” the party explained.