The Oodua Peoples Congress (OPC) has joined the family of its founder, Dr Fredrick Fasehun, in expressing indignation for the omission of his name by President Bola Tinubu ,in his list of heroes of June 12 rolled out in the 2024 Democracy Day broadcast.
The president of the organisation, Otunba Wasiu Afolabi, claimed in a statement on Monday that neither President Tinubu nor his handlers had bothered to acknowledge OPC’s pro-Tinubu campaign a whole year after the new regime’s inauguration, in spite of the OPC having worked for the President’s victory in the 2023 elections.
Afolabi recalled that the late medical doctor cum activist sacrificed his livelihood and liberty to fight for the disannulment of the June 12 mandate of the late Bashorun M.K.O. Abiola and the restoration of democracy through OPC and the national Democratic Coalition (NADECO).
“Baba was jailed several times. Hundreds of innocent OPC members were killed. Some were arrested, jailed, maimed for life and extra-judicially slaughtered by evil agents of the military regime,” Afolabi stated.
The former deputy president to the OPC founder lamented that the organisation had been ignored by the president after its members made enormous sacrifices for the emergence of Tinubu as president in the last general election.
“Just as Baba taught us, OPC regarded Tinubu as a southern project and Yoruba interest; and we mobilised for his victory,” Afolabi lamented. “After the win, it appears like they used and dumped us.
“Are they neglecting OPC because we are not deviants who are being showered with Nigeria’s resources in the name of amnesty,” he queried.
He also berated set of politicians for placing premium on their personal comfort at the expense of the welfare of other citizens of the country..
“Definitely, this Fourth Republic is far from the vision that the heroes of democracy hoped for, fought for and died for.
“Our democracy has been hijacked by soldiers of fortune, whose primary aim appears to be to milk the people’s commonwealth,” Afolabi stated.
“Common Nigerians cannot afford petrol, gas, electricity. Commodities like pepper, tomatoes, rice and even garri have become luxury items. Entire families are joining the “JAPA” bandwagon to flee Nigeria. Youths are crossing and perishing in deserts and oceans just to escape from this country.
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“Yet, politicians carry on as if everything is normal. If politicians feel that they will not answer to man, they will surely answer to God.”
Describing the OPC as a legacy organisation, Afolabi added: “OPC will be 30 years old in September 2024 and this Fourth Republic is only 25 years old.
“Clearly, Fasehun founded the group as a Special Purpose Vehicle for democracy; and he poured his entire resources to sustain the group. Eminent Nigerians like Beko Ransome-Kuti, Kudirat Abiola, Doyin Okupe, Obas and intellectuals joined OPC.
“Therefore, OPC is far from being a group of nonentities and we have a role to play in this current political dispensation.”
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