by Rachel Ogbu

The Senior Special Adviser to President Goodluck Jonathan on Public Affairs, Doyin Okupe was recently quoted as saying:

“Nelson Mandela was a great leader, he lived his life for the people of South Africa.

I check through the history of Nigeria, among our past and present leaders, the only one we call our Mandela is President Jonathan. There is no president in Nigeria that has sacrificed 13 hours to discuss with ASUU.”

The said comment received a lot of tongue lashing on social media with some calling for his sack and even recommended medication.

[READ: “His cocaine is 1st grade from Colombia”: Top 10 reactions to Doyin Okupe’s ‘GEJ is our Mandela’ statement (READ) ]

However Okupe through his Head of Media in his office, Bamidele Salam denied comparing President Jonathan to the late South African leader saying the statement was pulled from an AIT interview which occurred earlier in the day before Mandela’s death was announced on December 5.

“It is clear that the authors of these false quotes are linked by the same desire to mislead innocent members through a consistent pattern of published falsehood in a manner as to portray Okupe as an enemy of adherents of a particular faith, geo political zone or some other noble cause in the polity.”