AD

 

Dr. Fredrick Fasehun

In this interview with ENIOLA AKINKUOTU, the founder of the Odua Peoples Congress and National Chairman of the Unity Party of Nigeria, Dr. Fredrick Fasehun, speaks about the just concluded elections and other national issues

Your organisation, the OPC, promised to deliver six million votes to President Goodluck Jonathan. What went wrong?

What we said was that the OPC would, as a matter of principle, support Jonathan and the vast majority of the OPC supported Jonathan. At my polling booth there were about 480 people when I got there and just one policeman who was not even armed. The APC executed a technical and scientific rigging of all the elections in Lagos State, as it did in most states where the Independent National Electoral Commission awarded it victory. The ruling party in Lagos (APC) used the five elections, held on March 28 and April 11, to demonstrate its lack of respect for democracy and democratic principles. This party is simply not interested in free, fair and credible elections. The APC subscribes to do-or-die politics and shows no tendency towards respecting the wishes of the people as expressed through the ballot box. In the buildup to and during the process of this election, the APC perpetrated all sorts of illegalities. APC thugs wreaked violence in several places before and after the elections. Thugs, armed with canes and weapons, unleashed violence on voters in queues. The police and other security agencies should immediately arrest and bring these APC thugs to face the law.

INEC compromised with the APC from the polling booths, through the collation centres at the ward, local government and state levels. In many places, INEC representatives and materials arrived late at their duty posts. And we have cases where INEC ad hoc and permanent workers colluded with the APC to falsify results. In several places, counting was illegally delayed and deferred from the polling centres to council headquarters and police stations, to the exclusion of opposing parties’ agents, with the results doctored to suit the highest bidder. Card-carrying APC members showed up as INEC workers. One INEC worker, who had been responsible for withholding the Permanent Voter Cards of non-indigenes, showed up to conduct the elections, and of course she compromised with the APC.

Do you have any evidence to support these allegations or are you just making excuses for failing to deliver for Jonathan as you promised?

What I said was more of an observation than an allegation and it is all over the town that the so-called election was more of a rigging exercise than an electoral process. And Nigerians saw what happened. In my area of concern, which is Oshodi/Isolo Local Government Area, thugs came in and beat those who wanted to vote. They were beaten and pushed into the gutters. I had to intervene personally to arrest some thugs. After that, a newspaper told the Nigerian public that Dr. Fasehun lost his polling unit in Isolo. I can assure you, no politician can defeat me in Oshodi/Isolo. I saw rigging with my eyes. If it happened in my area, why would I not believe that it happened elsewhere? We want Nigeria to go on and that is why we did not cry out to the press but I am sure that if some people are brave enough to go to the tribunal, I am sure some evidence will crop up.

You had a governorship candidate in Lagos, Mrs. Modupe Onitiri-Abiola, but a few weeks to the election, you abandoned her and began campaigning for Mr. Jimi Agbaje of the PDP.

She did not present herself as a real candidate. I didn’t see her for about two months before the election and I am the party chairman. She is not new to politics. I don’t think she spent N5 (five naira) on campaigns. This is not an exaggeration and we all know how much her husband (MKO Abiola) spent when he was in politics.

What are your expectations from Buhari and do you think the APC can effect the needed change?

Buhari, prior to the elections, was not the most popular politician in our polity and that must have been the reason why Nigerians had doubts but since he has convinced us that he can be a democrat, Nigerians have given him a chance to demonstrate that principle. Many of us have been saying leopards don’t change their spots, so this is an opportunity for Buhari to show us that he has changed. Nigerians have given him the opportunity. Nigerians expect him to leave his uniform in the barracks and use his babariga. This is all we expect of him. He should not, at anytime, demonstrate commitment to the interest of a group but to every Nigerian. Four years in the life of a nation is a very short time but I am advising him that since Nigerians have decided to forget the past, let the future come with some glory.

The APC said Jonathan gave N10bn to the OPC and other militias.

You can go and investigate that. Jonathan must have a treasurer.

Don’t you fear that your pipeline contract will be terminated once Buhari takes over?

No. It is a national issue and I am sure Buhari will not go against national welfare. The NNPC (Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation) was losing N7bn every month to pipeline vandalism and the militants have come to offer their services for less than N2bn a month and that includes the South-West, the South-South and other areas and there is no way the government will have that number of Nigerians to protect oil facilities. If he cancels the contract, he is cutting his nose to spite his face. Where will he see such a number of militants? We have about 4,200 people along Mosinmi to Oyo (pipeline routes). Where will he get such a number of people? Even if he places adverts on radio or television, where would he get such a number of people?