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Nigerian physician, politician and Presidential aspirant, Adedoyin Ajibike Okupe better known as Dr. Doyin Okupe, declared that he has been taught by two past presidents on how to be a President.

The cum politician made this know in a recent interview on CityTalks with Reuben Abati on City105.1 monitored by Abati media.

The former presidential spokesperson made his intention known to contest the 2023 presidential election on the platform of the People’s Democratic Party (PDP) in August 2021.

Other politicians on the list of the PDP who have expressed interest in the 2023 Presidential race are: Former Vice President of Nigeria, Atiku Abubakar, Former Senate President and Secretary to the Government, Senator Ayim Pius, Veteran Journalist and Publisher of the Ovation Magazine, Chief Dele Momodu, and Former President, Pharmaceutical Society of Nigeria, Sam Ohuabunwa

According to Dr. Okupe, the race for the President is beyond brandishing of Curriculum Vitae when it comes to national politics.

“I have worked with two major Presidents (President Olusegun Obasanjo and President Goodluck Jonathan) in this country, I have been with them in hard times and in good times, I have seen what their fears were and how things are done.    

“My situation is much better than those who came to gamble,” Dr Okupe said.

He stated that apart from Atiku Abubakar who was a former Vice President,” I am the most well positioned person to run the next administration after General Muhammadu Buhari,” he said.

In his view, “I have a lot of respect for Senator Anyim, he was a former secretary to government and I have the opportunity of working with him.

“Being a Senate President and a Secretary to the Government is far from being a President.

“Inspite of Ayim’s antecedents, I am still a better candidate than him,” Dr Okupe said.

He added, “there are different levels of government, the fact that you have occupied one does not mean you can do well in other areas.”

Dr Okupe blamed the failure of past Presidents in Nigeria on the lack of preparedness and he described the events where other people coerce others to vie for presidency as “idiotic.”

He alluded his interest to vie for the position of the President    on his preparedness and motivations.

His words: “I have done my research, I know where the government failed, I know the bottle neck, I have designed a roadmap.

“I have reached a point and I have reached an age that I can give my optimum best, particularly, to address the issue of poverty, the issue of insurgency and insecurity and to relieve the pain of the masses and those who are needy and poor.

“From day one; if sworn-in-as-Presidents, I will announce 10 ministers whose names are already on my mind.

“After the first Federal Executive Council meeting, I will announce the remaining ministers.”

Former President Olusegun Obasanjo says that President Muhammadu Buhari has done his best to provide solutions to the country's security concerns, but Nigerians should not expect anything more from the Katsina-born retired major general.

When leaders of socio-cultural organizations met in Abuja this week for a retreat on inclusive security organized by the Global Peace Foundation in cooperation with Vision Africa, Obasanjo made it clear.

Elder statesmen such as Obasanjo and the Sultan of Sokoto, Alhaji Sa'ad Abubakar, among others, decried the country's relentless kidnappings and killings, calling for collaborative action to prevent the country's rising insecurity.

At the event, Obasanjo said Nigerians should focus on the post-Buhari period rather than waste time begging the 78-year-old President for more security solutions.

"The fact is this: President Buhari has done his best; that is all he can do; if you expect anything more than that, you are kicking a dead horse and there is no need," the 84-year-old ex-President remarked.

"We must not put our hands in our pockets... What should we do to prepare for the post-Buhari era? Buhari has given it his all. My prayer is that God will spare his life so that he may complete his time, but what happens after Buhari? What can we do to make the post-Buhari period better than the current one? That is our obligation. It's something that we're all concerned about."

Between February 1976 and September 1979, Obasanjo served as Nigeria's military head of state, then as the country's democratically elected President from May 1999 to May 2007, while Buhari served as Nigeria's head of state between December 1983 and August 1985 before returning as a civilian president in May 2015.

Obasanjo had been one of Buhari's harshest detractors until lately, when he appeared to soften his stance. The strongman of Hilltop urged Buhari in February 2021 that he needed to wake up and confront banditry in his own home — the North-West.

Many Nigerians are dissatisfied with Buhari's administration, which came to office promising to address the country's security concerns in 2015, but the situation appears to have worsened in the following six years.