The Oodua People’s Congress (OPC) loyal to late Frederick Fasehun has warned against what it perceives as plans by some self-appointed leaders of the North to blackmail President Bola Tinubu and prematurely return the presidency to their region.
In a statement by its General Secretary, Comrade Bunmi Fasehun, the group emphasised that such an anti-Tinubu scheme contradicted and jeopardised the spirit of unity and rotational presidency.
Fasehun said: “Embittered souls now calling for Asiwaju’s premature ouster should take note of the rotational principle that the entire country embraced and which has made government inclusive and equitable since 1999.
“That principle must not be endangered for the selfish interest of political adventurists like Hameed Baba-Ahmed and Nasir El-Rufai.
“OPC’s 10-million-strong members and sympathisers cannot fold their arms and look the other way when such vituperations threaten Nigeria’s collective welfare and peace.
“In order to check these bitter and self-appointed sectional gladiators in their satanic mission to blackmail President Bola Ahmed Tinubu, OPC is forced to embark on this publicity intervention.”
The Yoruba socio-cultural group reminded Tinubu’s antagonists of how he aided former President Muhammadu Buhari, from the North, to win two tenures as Nigeria’s elected leader for eight years.
She said: “No one can obliterate the historical role that Asiwaju played in returning the presidency to the North in 2015 by working against a sitting President from the South.
“For the first time in Nigerian history, an opposition party won a presidential election. It was a mission impossible that God used Tinubu to make possible with his stratagem, connections and resources through the primaries to the general elections in 2015 and in 2019.
“This facilitated the election and reelection of General Muhammadu Buhari, a Northerner, as Nigeria’s President.
“Evidently, Tinubu mobilised his South-West to vote massively for Buhari in both elections.”
Extolling the President’s democratic credentials, the OPC General Secretary said Tinubu remained the only Fourth Republic elected leader to emerge from the trenches.
Fasehun said: “Like OPC and our Founder, the Late Dr. Frederick Fasehun, Tinubu played a formidable role in NADECO, the ultimate vehicle for our country’s democratic struggle, both at home and abroad.
“Like Nelson Mandela, Tinubu is the first Nigerian President in this Fourth Republic to emerge from the trenches of the struggle against military rule. None of his Fourth Republic predecessors can boast of that fabulous democratic credential.”
Although acknowledging that Nigerians today grappled with socio-economic challenges under the current regime, OPC called for patience.
“People must remember that Tinubu inherited the current security and economic challenges; and the lingering situation must be weighed against the backdrop of the fact that the regime has been in the saddle for ONLY two years. We must be patient.”
