The desperation of the Special Adviser to President Goodluck Jonathan, Dr Ruben Abati, to sideline the new Senior Special Assistant (Public Affairs), Dr Doyin Okupe, and insists he is the boss, is fast becoming an obstacle to the media management of the President whose image and interface with the public as per his programs dipped before the arrival of Okupe .
Aso Rock sources hinted that Abati has vowed to frustrate every effort of Okupe using some members of the state House press corp. This development has forced Okupe to send all his media statements from his office directly to news editors because his stories could be killed.
But feelers from the presidency indicate that Okupe has ensured he is not distracted from his task which is interface, inform and engage the citizenry in the areas the administration’s policies.
Pointblanknews.com gathered that the arrowhead of the pro Abati ‘boys’ is the correspondent of the Guardian Newspapers, Madu Onuorah, and the correspondent of Lagos based Inspiration Radio, Moses Okpogede. They are moles who rat on even their colleagues for peanuts.
“ The two are his loyalists, they snoop around for him in the press center, he is ready to drop NTA for Inspiration Radio. Madu Onuorah is his man Friday, who, when he sees Okupe pretends all is well but goes back to inform his paymaster”
According to our source, the whole issue came to a head when President Jonathan with Abati were away in Ghana for funeral Mr. Atta Mills, . Okupe stepped in and addressed State House correspondents on the benefits of US Secretary of State, Mrs. Hilary Clinton’s visit to Nigeria.
Investigation revealed that,. Okupe, contacted reporters who were correspondents at the Villa when Okupe was spokesman for former President Olusegun Obasanjo .
Said our source” It was a harmless move by Okupe who sees his job as complimentary to Abati’s. Abati was not in the country, so shortly Clinton left he decided to address the media, because apparently some top members of Jonathan’s kitchen cabinet did not like the coverage.
It was gathered that as soon as Onuorah of the Guardian Newspapers got wind of the move by Okupe he reported the move to Abati.
Our source revealed that Okupe had barely settled down to brief the press when Onuorah sent a text message to Abati in faraway Ghana that Okupe had just addressed the media, and that Okupe had usurped his role.
It was further gathered that Abati, piqued by the development returned from Ghana and directed Onuorah to tell Aso Rock reporters not to write a report from Okupe’s interview.
“ it was unbelievable. Instead of applaud the move by Okupe since it was in the interest of the President, he sent words to all the reporters to stop the story. We also learnt he later sent a terse text to Okupe warning to stay clear.”
It would be recalled that Mr. Fani Kayode, erstwhile Senior Special Assistant on Public Affairs to Mr. Obasanjo, had worked side by side with Obasanjo’s spokesman, Mrs. Remi Oyo, without conflict of interest.
According to our source “ we all know in the presidency that Abati’s attitude is not in the interest of Mr President. We all know he was not doing the job. Since he (Okupe) came we can all see the enlightenment and the way he explains policies and programs. Why would Abati be fighting him, when Okupe in cooperating and doing his job. The issue is Mr President is just tolerating him, for how long I don’t know. Because how do you explain the killing of the Clinton’s visit story”