"We (the govt) don't have the media behind us - Doyin Okupe

"We (the govt) don't have the media behind us - Doyin Okupe

While speaking as a guest on a current affairs programme on STV this  afternoon, Presidential spokesman, Doyin Okupe said the present  government doesn't not have the backing of the media. Okupe stated this  while responding to a question on why the president's media team focus  more on talking about the opposition than the achievements of the  government such as the 50% reduction in maternal mortality rate in Nigeria now. I watch the programme myself and below is what he said;

"That  is not correct. This government has built 38 dams.  I did a programme called four impactful years. They were shown on  television. We are not deceiving people. If  I tell you we have 24 airport in Nigeria, are they not verifiable? I  can tell you all the airports have been remodeled. Fact. Go to anywhere. Wherever you want to go. They have been remodeled. If I tell you that the Benin-ore road used to be a  death trap. People used to spend 24 hours on the road, today day spend  three hours. If I tell you the Lagos-Ibadan express road was  built in 1976  or something like that and from that time or more than  30 years nobody did anything. It is ...If people deliberately refuse to  see and the media find a way to underplay the achievements, we will keep  trying, we will keep trying. Our God will justify us. We don't have the  media behind us but we have God behind us"he said.

Asked  how the media can be captured by the opposition when they are the ones  in government, Okupe said

"Its not like the opposition took over the  media. The elements within the opposition and the sentiments concerning  the opposition had dominated the media prior to this event of Jonathan  coming into power. Tell me which media organization in Nigeria where you  can say that the government owns. Government doesn't own any media. but  the opposition has tremendous influence in the media. Its unarguable. I  don't want to go beyond that" he said

Source: "We (the govt) don't have the media behind us - Doyin Okupe