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Tag: Fasehun

  • Fasehun, Adams, Dokubo, others unite against NNPC

    Fasehun, Adams, Dokubo, others unite against NNPC

    • Demand pay for services rendered

    Factional leaders of the Oodua People’s Congress (OPC), Dr. Frederick Fasehun and Otunba Gani Adams, as well as other beneficiaries of the controversial Pipeline Security and Surveillance contracts, who met at the weekend called on the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) to pay  their outstanding fees by the end of the month, or face legal action.

    NNPC on June 15, terminated the contract awarded under President Goodluck Jonathan to various ?private security firms to safeguard pipelines against vandals..

    The companies are New Age Nigeria Limited (Fasehun); Donyx Global Concept (Adams); ATEF Nigeria Limited (Asari Dokubo); Galery Security Services Limited (Bibo Ajube); Bajeros Nigeria Limited (Joshua Machiever); Close Body Protection Limited (High Chief Omo) and Izon Ibe Security Limited.

    In an open letter addressed to President Muhammadu Buhari, they claimed that they had a three-month contract with the NNPC, from March 15 to  June 15, which they delivered on but are yet to be paid.

    They alleged that the NNPC has refused to pay its indebtedness to them, insisting that they are demanding their entitlement and not a handout or favour.

    They debunked claims that President Jonathan was the one who gave them the contract in order to secure his re-election, adding that due process was followed between them and the Management of the NNPC, before the contract was awarded.

    While noting that they incurred losses ranging from death of personnel, injuries, as well as borrowed ?money from the banks to execute the contract, they insisted that weekly reports and monthly meetings were held with the NNPC.

    ”It should be known that the contractors had valid and duly signed contract agreements with the management of the NNPC to protect the pipelines for a period of three months.

    “Up on till now, the public perception of the NNPC Pipeline Security and Surveillance job was that former President Goodluck Jonathan gave the job to the contractors on the platter of politics. But nothing can be farther from the truth than this.

    “Therefore, for the purpose of clarity, it should be noted that the contract was signed between the contractors and the management of the NNPC, an agency of government, as a way of finding lasting solutions to the incessant problem of pipeline vandalisation across the country.

    “The terms and agreements of the contract were formulated and drafted by the management of the NNPC and was duly signed by all the parties, including the contractors and the legal department of the NNPC after several meetings and consultations.

    “It is also necessary for the public to know that, against widely held belief that the contract was terminated by the Federal Government, it should be noted that the contract indeed ran its course, which was a period of three months, starting from March 15, 2015 and ended June 15, 2015.

    “It is our belief that the contract agreement between the NNPC and the contractors is a public document and therefore can always be accessed by any member of public.

    “At the same time, what we are demanding from the NNPC is for it to redeem its own part of the contract agreement and should not be seen as a favour and handout to any individual.

  • Obas dissociate selves from Fasehun, Al-Mustapha’s romance

    YORUBA traditional rulers have dissociated themselves from the controversial romance between the founder of Odua People’s Congress (OPC), Fredrick Fasehun and the recently acquitted Major Hamza Al-Mustapha, the former Chief Security Officer to the late Head of State, Gen. Sani Abacha.

    The monarchs described the development as an issue the Obas in Yorubaland should not be dragged into.

    Fasehun, it would be recalled, accompanied the former CSO to his residence in Kano State after his acquittal by the Lagos Division of the Court of Appeal, which set aside the earlier judgement of the lower court which sentenced him to death for the murder of Alhaja Kudirat Abiola.

    The development has generated controversies among the Yorubas, some of whom felt the murder of Kudirat Abiola in 1996 was allegedly masterminded by Al-Mustapha.

    But the Yoruba Obas Conflict Resolution Committee yesterday told journalists in Ibadan after the meeting of its sub-committee that the issue was political and would not want to be involved.

    The paramount ruler of Ugboland, Oba Fredrick Akinruntan, who briefed the journalists on the outcome of the meeting of the sub-committee, disclosed that the conflict resolution efforts had started to yield positive results with some of the hitherto non-commital Obas now showing interest and concern.

    The monarch recalled that the cardinal programme of the committee was to ensure that the Obas speak with one voice without which the issue of marginalisation being currently suffered by the Yorubas at the federal level could not be properly addressed.

    To ensure the realisation of its set objectives of unity among Yoruba Obas, the Olugbo of Ugbo kingdom disclosed that his committee would soon embark on visits to all the Obas in the South-West geo-political zone to brief them of its activities and solicit for their unerstanding and cooperation.

    Olugbo, who is the Chairman of the committee said, “We are convinced of achieving our set objective of ensuring the desired unity among the Obas in Yorubaland and when we are set to move round, we are sure of very warm reception and positive disposition to our cause.”

     

  • Osoba, Fasehun, Sani, others seek Yoruba’s unity

    Osoba, Fasehun, Sani, others seek Yoruba’s unity

    Students, politicians, academics and captains of industry yesterday extolled the virtues of the late Senator Abraham Adesanya, who died on April 27, 2008.

    He was 85.

    At a memorial lecture, organised by the University of Lagos (UNILAG) chapter of the National Association of Ogun State Students, at the Afe Babalola Auditorium of the institution, the elder statesman received encomiums for fighting the cause of the Yoruba and democracy.

    Present on the occasion were: Dr. Tokunbo Awolowo-Dosumu and Chief Jimi Agbaje, Senator Iyiola Omisore; Mrs Bola Obasanjo, who represented her husband, former President Olusegun Obasanjo; Rear Admiral Tayo Sode (rtd), Senator Olabiyi Durojaiye, Senator Olorunimbe Mamora; Ambassador Aminu Shosanya, Mr. Segun Adesanya, Mr. Gboyega Oyewole, who represented former Ekiti State Governor Segun Oni, among others.

    In a lecture titled: The Place of the Yoruba in Nigerian Politics and Development, the guest lecturer, Prof. Alade Fawole, of the Department of International Relations, Obafemi Awolowo University (OAU), Ile-Ife, Osun State, said Adesanya was one of the few eminent citizens, who shared the late Chief Obafemi Awolowo’s ideology.

    He noted that like the late Western Nigeria’s Premier, Adesanya was among patriotic Nigerians, who did not believe that one had to deny his primordial origin to be a good Nigerian.

    Prof Fawole said: “Like Awolowo, he (Adesanya) believed that a Yoruba man or woman cannot be a good Nigerian unless he or she is a good Yoruba first. There is no contradiction in this as far as he was concerned.”

    The academic recalled that when other Nigerians sought refuge overseas or abandoned the struggle to enthrone democracy, Adesanya stood resolutely to pursue his belief.

    “Pa Adesanya stayed behind in Nigeria and led Nigerians in the pro-democracy struggle from the trenches at great personal costs,” he said.

    The don stressed that Nigerians owed immense gratitude to the late Senator for enthroning democracy, which the nation enjoys presently.

    He said: “For his temerity and activism, he was targeted for callous execution by the late General Sani Abacha’s murder squad. Only God saved him from what could have become a most gruesome, officially-sanctioned assassination.”

     

  • Fasehun to Jonathan: immortalise heroes of democracy

    Fasehun to Jonathan: immortalise heroes of democracy

    Founder of the Oodua People’s Congress (OPC), Dr. Frederick Fasehun, has urged President Goodluck Jonathan to immortalise the heroes of democracy, whom he said paid a high price for the civil rule being enjoyed today.

    Fasehun, in a statement to mark the Democracy Day, said the sacrifices of the martyrs and heroes of Nigeria’s democracy have been rubbished by politicians. He listed some of the foremost martyrs who paid the supreme price to include the winner of the June 12, 1993 presidential election, the late Bashorun Moshood Abiola; his wife, Kudirat; the late Chief Anthony Enahoro; the late Gen. Musa Shehu Yar’Adua; the late Chief Alfred Rewane; the late Bagauda Kaltho; the late Chief Abraham Adesanya; the late Chief Gani Fawehinmi; the late Dr Beko Ransom Kuti and the late Chima Ubani.

    He said: “Chief Abiola, especially, would be disappointed at how the democracy he sacrificed his life for has turned out. Many of those who have been in power since 1999 were either minding their private businesses or hobnobbing with General Ibrahim Babangida and General Sani Abacha while the struggle for democracy lasted.”

     

  • Yoruba hold the ace in 2015, says Fasehun

    Yoruba hold the ace in 2015, says Fasehun

    •Asari: It’s a do-or-die affair

    The founder of the Oodua Peoples Congress (OPC), Dr. Frederick Fasehun, has said the Yoruba could decide the fate of President Goodluck Jonathan in 2015.

    But the leader of the Niger Delta Peoples Volunteers Force (NDPVL), Mujahid Asari-Dokubo, said the 2015 election would be a do-or-die affair.

    He said all ethnic groups in the Niger Delta should be prepared for war.

    Fasehun, who spoke alongside Asari-Dokubo in Effurun-Warri, Delta State, during the Isaac Adaka Boro remembrance, advised Niger Delta leaders to see the Yoruba as their most reliable ally in 2015.

    He said: “If you look at the political configuration, you will find that the most reliable friend the Southsouth can lean on for 2015 is the Southwest.

    “This is because it is the only zone that will not be vying for the presidency.”

    To this end, he urged Southsouth leaders to reach out to their counterparts in the Southwest and other zones to garner support for the president.

    Speaking on Isaac Adaka Boro, the OPC founder challenged Niger Delta leaders to be motivated by the spirit of selflessness of their heroes, such as the Boros and the Saro-Wiwas.

    Asari-Dokubo said: “The 2015 election is going to challenge our survival as a nation and as a people because the war that is going on is because Jonathan is the president.

    “The day Jonathan comes to say he is longer president, this insecurity in parts of Nigeria will cease.”

    The NDPVL leader said his kinsmen were prepared to defend themselves.

    “When they come with their guns, they will not come for the Ijaw alone; they will not distinguish who is Ijaw, Urhobo, Ibibio, Itsekiri and others. They are coming for all of us.

    “They want to continue to marginalise, humiliate and degrade us and we should collectively resist this,” he said.

    Asari-Dokubo denied that he is heating up the polity and fanning the embers of war, stressing that “the Northerners are beating the drums of war by their actions.”

    “When some people threatened to make the country ungovernable because President Jonathan won, the result is what we are seeing today?

    “They are the ones beating the drums of war and we are prepared for them now. I am not afraid of war. We are prepared,” he said.

    Asked why he made a u-turn after criticising the president, Asari-Dokubo said his criticism was to draw attention to the deplorable state of the East-West Road.

    “I have never criticised anybody based on personal issues.

    “ I criticised the president because of the East-West Road and the magic is happening.

    “The work on the road has improved, unlike before. Do you call that criticism?”

     

     

     

  • Falae, Fasehun …The gathering cloud

    Falae, Fasehun …The gathering cloud

    By all standards, Chief Oluyemisi Falae and Dr. Frederick Fasehun are leading lights of Yoruba land and notable Nigerians. They are both septuagenarians and became politicians when statesmen were in short supply, having been swept aside by the Babangida away-with-old-politicians gale. At the time they came up, they realised that the only way to stand any chance of making a mark in the public square of their immediate environment was to associate with the progressive or pseudo-progressive camp.

    As soon as the lid on formation of political parties was lifted by the IBB regime, Fasehun joined the fray by founding what he called Labour Party and applied to the Humphrey Nwosu National Electoral Commission for registration. He was denied. Falae who had served as the brain box of the Babangida ultra right economic agenda also migrated to the Social Democratic Party, that was closer to progressive ideology of the two parties established by the regime.

    As a mainstream politician, that was the last time anyone heard anything of the medical doctor. However, with the truncation of the popular mandate handed Chief MKO Abiola and the usurpation of the throne by dark-goggled General Sani Abacha, the opportunity presented itself for Fasehun to seize a platform for relevance. He came up with an Oodua Peoples Congress, ostensibly a Yoruba resistance movement. Since then, he has skirted around the political scene and imposed himself on the consciousness of the people with an ill-defined ideology.

    Falae shone briefly in 1999. He had moved around as a presidential aspirant on the platform of the SDP in the last phase of the Babangida reign. As a top civil servant who was Secretary to that notorious administration, Falae had no problem convincing the powers behind the SDP throne that IBB would be too pleased to hand over Nigeria to him. Money was not a consideration as he had more than enough to spend. But, like others, he was outsmarted by the administration.

    At the inception of the Fourth Republic, he was back on the rustlings. He kis most remembered today for his heroics at D’Rovans Hotel, Ibadan where he overpowered a more experienced and better grounded Chief Bala Ige as elders of Afenifere met to pick the presidential candidate for Alliance for Democracy. There, the seed of destruction of AD was sown. He moved on to pair Alhaji Umaru Shinkafi of the All Peoples Party in a bid to set the tone for the Republic.

    The duo was defeated by the more connected Peoples Democratic Party. And, as a politician without a place in the hearts of the people, especially of the South West, Falae immediately faded away. In 2003, he had lost relevance even in his Ondo State that the PDP defeated the AD.

    Both men now want to be seen again as men of substance. They will do anything to court power and demonstrated the hunger in the last Ondo State governorship election where they quickly embraced the Labour Party administration. Now, they have changed tactics. As the people are discussing All Progressives Congress as a mega party, Falae jumped in and announced that he was leading another coalition. He probably thought Nigerians are dumb. None of the parties he is coordinating has the muscle to make any impact anywhere in the country. He, the principal promoter, is not in position to deliver a local government area.

    Fasehun wants to resuscitate the Unity Party of Nigeria, believing that the nostalgia in the region would aid the move. There are suggestions that contractors have seized the scene for pecuniary reasons. For whatever reason that Falae is lending himself to a movement that could bring back ugly memories of the First Republic should remember the outcome of the nefarious activities of the hirelings of the age.

    The cloud is gathering. It is time for Yoruba to think.