The Labour Party (LP) yesterday announced Mr. Akin Osuntokun, newspaper columnist and former political adviser to President Olusegun Obasanjo as the new director general of Obi-Datti presidential campaign council.
Osuntokun succeeds Dr Doyin Okupe who resigned his chairmanship position following his conviction by a court for violating Money Laundering Act.
Osuntokun’s appointment was announced after strategic meeting of the party which ha the presidential candidate of the LP, Mr. Peter Obi, members of the national working committee and other candidates of the party in attendance
While announcing the new director general, the party’s national chairman, Mr. Julius Abure regretted Okupe’s resignation, but assured that Osuntokun was selected given his vast knowledge and competence to drive the party to victory.
“The resignation of the former director general, Doyin Okupe, is regretted because we will be losing his wealth of experience. But as a result of the circumstances surrounding his resignation, we didn’t have any choice but to accept it.
The Obidient movement is centred around integrity, humility and transparency, and therefore, in as much as we regret his resignation we are pleased to announce one of our comrades, also from the same geopolitical zone because we must employ federal character as enshrined in the constitution, and having put all of these into consideration, and having consulted widely, we have come to the inevitable conclusion to replace the DG with Akin Osuntokun.
“We believe that he has the capacity, he has the competence to join us in this campaign and be able to drive it to success,” he said.
Later in a statement, spokesman for the LP’s campaign organisation, Mr. Diran Onifade described Osuntokun as a political scientist, strategist, researcher, administrator, journalist and writer.
“The Obi-Baba Ahmed Campaign Organization has appointed Balogun Akin Osuntokun as the new Director-General of the campaign organisation. He succeeds Dr Doyin Okupe.
“Until recently, Osuntokun was the zonal coordinator (south). He is a Nigerian political scientist, strategist, researcher, administrator, journalist and writer, with experience in media advocacy, policy research and implementation and political analysis.
“A former managing director of the News Agency of Nigeria, Osuntokun served as political adviser to former President Olusegun Obasanjo, and as Director of the Presidential campaign of the People’s Democratic Party in 2011.
“He brings to his new position vast political and media experience,” Onifade said in a statement.
Reacting to the development, the new director general said he never lobbied for the post adding that the appointment “did not come to me as a shock.”
“Naturally, I feel good about it. I look forward to the new role. It didn’t come to me as a shock. I didn’t lobby for it.
“As the zonal coordinator of the South West and in the hierarchy of the campaign organisation, I am next to the DG of the South West. If we look at it from that perspective, it didn’t come to me as a surprise. That is the simple explanation for that,” he told Punch in an interview.
He has a considerable wealth of experience in terms of participating in the presidential election in Nigeria.
As a campaign director general, Osuntokun said he would no doubt come under pressure, just like his counterparts in the other political parties.
“It is not a new terrain. I led the 2003 and 2007 presidential elections as a political adviser.
Anybody in the campaign hierarchy will necessarily be under pressure until after the election. It is not an armchair position.
“We are taking Nigeria away from the culture of sentiments. We are not going to help in perpetuating those primordial sentiments. Being a Yoruba man, Igbo or Fulani should not be a determinant to winning the election this time.
“Otherwise we will be holding ourselves responsible for all things that have gone wrong in this country. The question should be about competence and antecedents,” he added.
