EXTRA: My son on ‘Godly mission’ to change gay community, says Doyin Okupe

Doyin Okupe, a former aide to Goodluck Jonathan, ex-president of Nigeria, says Bolu, his son, is on a “Godly mission” to change those in the gay community. 

The spotlight had beamed on Bolu after he publicly revealed his gay status in an Instagram post in January.

His father had thereafter attributed the development to “spiritual challenge” but later expressed optimism that his son would rescind his decision and be celebrated someday.

In a recent interview with Vanguard, the former presidential aide said he believes his son’s gay status was to enable God to use him to influence those in the LGBT community.

“God says my ways and not your ways and he knows the end from the beginning. Mark my words, he’s on a sojourn in the gay community in other to be an instrument of God to those there eventually. That’s what is going to happen by the grace of God,” he said.

Okupe also revealed that the family had known about the 27-year-old’s gay tendencies three years before he eventually went public with his sexuality.

“The family had known that Bolu had that tendency as far back as two to three years before now. The problem was coming to announce and all that, and that was when people knew. The day I knew, I wept. I have gone past that, but we are praying for him,” he added.

The 68-year-old politician described his son as a “fickle person” who is easily influenced by his environment.

He also regretted sending him to France, noting that his foray into such an “extremely liberal society” informed his gay status.

“He never intended to live in Nigeria and I never knew. Unfortunately for me, his mother took him abroad very early, he did a major part of his secondary school in the UK. So, Bolu thinks and lives European. He is my son but his mind is European,” he said.

“He is a little bit of fickle person, depending on his environment. The moment I let him go and stay in France was the worst thing ever possible because that is an extremely liberal society.”