Doyin Okupe, a former presidential spokesperson, is dead.
The Ogun-born media guru died on Friday, March 7, 2025 at the age of 72.
The father of two served as a senior adviser to former President Goodluck Jonathan and later as the Director-General of Peter Obi’s 2023 Presidential Campaign.
As at the time of filing this report, the cause of his death has not been disclosed.
Here are 18 things you probably don’t know about late Ogun-born politician and media guru, Doyin Okupe:
1. Okupe was born on March 22, 1952 in Iperu, Ogun State.
2. His father, Chief Matthew Adekoya Okupe was a banker at Agbonmagbe Bank.
3. He attended St. Jude’s School in Lagos, Igbobi College, and the University of Ibadan.
4. He worked at St. Nicholas Hospital and other medical institutions.
5. He was married to Aduralere Okupe, with two children.
6. Okupe co-founded Royal Cross Medical Centre with Dr. Seyi Roberts and Dr. Ladi Okuboyejo and served as the Managing Director of Royal Cross Medical Centre.
7. He was the publisher of a health newspaper called Life Mirror.
8. He contested for a House of Representatives seat under the National Party of Nigeria (NPN) in 1983.
9. He served as National Publicity Secretary of the National Republican Convention (NRC) in the 1990s.
10. He got disqualified from the United Nigeria Congress Party (UNCP) primaries in 1998.
11. He was appointed Special Assistant on Media and Publicity to President Olusegun Obasanjo.
12. He contested for Ogun State governorship under People’s Democratic Party (PDP) in 2002.
13. He served as Senior Special Assistant on Public Affairs to President Goodluck Jonathan in 2012.
14. Okupe left PDP in 2017 to join the Accord Party, but was expelled in 2018 for supporting Bukola Saraki’s PDP campaign.
15. He joined the Labour Party (LP) and briefly served as Peter Obi’s running mate before a substantive VP was picked.
16. Okupe was probed by the EFCC in 2012 over unexecuted contracts in Benue and Imo states.
17. He survived COVID-19 in 2020 along with his wife.
18. His son, Bolu Okupe, came out as gay in 2021 while living in Paris.
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