Senior Special Assistant on Public Affairs to President Goodluck Jonathan, Doyin Okupe, believes that GEJ’s critics should be checked for mental illnesses by psychiatrists. He made a remark November 4 in reaction to the statement by ex Vice President Atiku Abubakar who blasted the acting administration and its manner of handling Boko Haram insurgency in the North-East, according to the reports.

Atiku, a presidential aspirant for the 2015 elections, had previously said that many Nigerians “suspect that the seeming inability of the government to end the crisis is a ploy to weaken some parts of the country ahead of the 2015 elections”.

Okupe, on his part, addressed the All Progressives Congress (APC) candidate saying:

“Those people saying that this government is clueless need psychiatric test. From now on, anybody who says this government is clueless should be referred to a psychiatrist. It is obvious that people are also trying to make mileage of insurgency. On Monday, a very notable member of the Nigerian leadership institution, in particular Alhaji Abubakar Atiku, took a swipe at the Federal Government and at the President.

“You know, it’s difficult to comment publicly about people who have held very important and highly dignified position in our polity, but when people go to the extent of trying to make political gains out of national tragedy, it is difficult not to say something because this is part of the misinformation which the Nigerian public has been subjected to.”

Jonathan’s assistant characterized the statements made by Atiku as “a little bit out of place”, which is not expected from the politician of his level who should the system from inside.

He also noted that Atiku would command the same military if elected in 2015 adding that it was strange for the potential country leader to make such “ill” comments about the army.

Okupe spoke about the genuine commitment of Jonathan to fighting terrorism in Nigeria and disclosed the secret of his administration’s success.“We have capable people who have made name running this economy; people like (Minister of Industry, Trade and Investment, Olusegun) Aganga; (Minster of Finance, Ngozi) Okonjo-Iweala and others and people are saying this government is clueless. How can these capable people be running an economy where the government is clueless. Is this possible? But I want to say here that Jonathan administration is the most successful since 1960.”

It would be recalled that the recent seizure of Mubi, Adamawa State second largest town, raised concerns among Nigerians and resulted in widely publicized blame games.

The attacks claimed many lives of civilians; left thousands of people displaced and were followed by the arrests of the army commanders, who abandoned Mubi moments after the Boko Haram invasion.