•Fasehun Photo: Sun News Publishing

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Controversy seems inevitably underway as Yoruba, Nigeria’s second largest ethnic stock, seek to chose a leader to succeed Pa Abraham Adesanya who passed on last week in Lagos at the age of 85 years.

Following the death of Chief Obafemi Awolowo in 1987, Chief Michael Ajasin was picked to succeed him. And when Ajasin passed on ten years thereafter, Adesanya emerged his successor in a convivial atmosphere.

But quite unexpectedly now, the succession pattern seem to have taken a different turn, with top Yoruba politicians singing different tunes.

For instance, while Chief Olu Falae claims that Pa Reuben Fasoranti is the bona fide successor to Adesanya, having acted in that capacity since the latter had been indisposed, others think otherwise. The development paints the picture of a titanic battle in the days ahead.

In all of these, however, one group that is not amused by the development is the Oodua Peoples Congress (OPC). Its founder, Dr Fredrick Fasehun has therefore warned of the dire consequences of any hanky-panky in the process leading to the emergence of a new Yoruba leader.
Fasehun, who spoke to Sunday Sun in Lagos, also took on the country’s federal lawmakers, describing them as both “shylock and perfidious”.
According to him, they have no business being in Abuja on permanent basis, as they sit only three days a week.
Excerpts:

The Yoruba nation has just lost its leader, Pa Abraham Adesanya, may his soul rest in peace. People are of the view that the process that would produce a successor might be rancorous. What is your organization planning to do to ensure a smooth and peaceful emergence of the next leader?
We have made it clear that Baba’s transition must not open a floodgate of acrimonies and hostilities among the rank and file of those qualified to lead the Yoruba race. We believe that as usual, all the sons and daughters of Yoruba would allow God to decide who would be the next Yoruba leader.
It is still too early to tell what the OPC as a corporate body would do, but I must not leave anybody in doubt, and I hope you, too, know that the OPC is quite capable of curtailing any act of aggression or violence that is detrimental to the corporate interest of the Yoruba people.

Any person or group which tries to introduce the element of violence into the process would be decisively dealt with and we would make it clear to the Yoruba people that such a character is not worthy to be their leader. We shall not tolerate it. You can be rest assured that the process would be peaceful. We won’t tolerate any act of violence or thuggery.

When you say rank and file of those qualified, are we likely to see a contest for the position?
The leader of the Yoruba nation has always emerged naturally. There is nothing like contest. The people, somehow, know intuitively who is the leader and they accord him that respect. But to think that it is a thing to be voted for, I don’t think it is going to be like that. And that is why I said that if anybody thinks that he would mobilize supporters and praise singers to project him and thereby introduce element of violence and thuggery into the process, that person would have himself to blame because the OPC will not condone such an act at all.

The title of your press conference is ‘A wake up call’. Are you afraid for the future of our democracy?
Clearly, the signals from current events in the country have shown that we are not yet in our promise land and every care must be taken to ensure that nothing derails the democratic process in the country. Nigerian politicians have never learnt a single thing from history. The lessons are there for all to learn from but our politicians are just blind to all these things and we owe it a duty to remind Nigerians that they have a sacred duty to protect our democracy by being alert. They must call our leaders to order. This month, on May 29, we would all be celebrating what they call civilian-to-civilian hand-over, but as we do that, we must remember that there are issues, which clearly, are cause for concern on the credibility, longevity and continuous existence of this present republic.

In specific terms, what are some of these things you are talking about?
You are aware that the 2007 election recorded the largest cases of election petition since the inception of democratic governance in the country. These petitions have not all be disposed off. And it is almost a year now. Some of those who are in various positions today may lose their seats and that being the case, resources of the state have been wasted by that individual and more importantly, the polity suffers as a result of not knowing who to call or regard as their representatives and from who to demand service. As we talk today, the presidency is still being disputed and we think things like this are not healthy. You are aware of the impasse between the National Assembly and the presidency in recent times over the budget. Are we not in May now? These kind of things can only impede our corporate progress.

It is like you are particularly irked by the attitude of our legislators of recent, especially members of the House of Representatives?
Our legislators are there to represent themselves. We have a bunch of shylock and perfidious lawmakers. Look at the type of legislators that we have in the National Assembly; they are people who don’t have the wellbeing of the masses of this nation at heart. They consider only themselves. How on earth would a legislator spend N114,000 on refreshment per day? I think Nigerians should cry out. All the coalitions must cry out. Enough is enough.

They recommended car allowances for themselves last year, they were given, this year too, they have asked for car allowances again and we must ask them what they have done with last year’s car? What we are even saying is that they should not be given any car allowances until they have produced or submitted the cars for last year. How many of us can afford to buy new cars today? The car I ride just now is eight years old. Therefore, we must all call them to order. For an individual to take N114,000 as allowance for refreshment per day from our common purse to feed himself is criminal, for God’s sake is criminal. They should allow the president to work; they cannot operate like the Mafiaso, by blackmailing the president just to have their own way. They should allow Yar’Adua to settle down and work.

When you talk about calling our lawmakers to order, how do we do that?
I have said it severally and I am sure you will agree with me that sovereignty belongs to the people. These lawmakers are supposed to serve us, the masses. The electorate have the right to call their representatives to order. There is the power of recall. But we appreciate that the process of recall is difficult to execute because of the factor of godfatherism in politics. But we are saying that the Yoruba can go and ask their representatives to take it easy, the Igbo can call their own lawmakers to order, too.

The same holds for the Hausa/Fulani, so also with the other ethnic groups. Frankly speaking, I think we should really consider making the legislative arm of government a part time business. Now that we are about to start the processes of amending the constitution, I think we should now bring this forward. For goodness sake, these people sit for only three days of Tuesdays, Wednesdays and Thursdays every week. The question is: why are they not paid on part time basis? On Thursday evening, they are here in Lagos and they don’t do anything until Tuesday morning when they quickly jet back to Abuja. They go there and collect money and smile to their banks. No other Nigerian is smiling to the bank now. Right now, Nigerians are hungry and they are angry.

Have you not noticed that the refreshment allowances for these legislators for one month is the entire annual salary of a university Vice-chancellor? This simply demonstrates that this National Assembly has lost touch with reality and we solidly condemn this perfidious profligacy. The National Assembly is simply making our democracy too expensive because they sit only three times a week and we cannot point to what they have added as value to our corporate existence. The refreshment or feeding allowances for the legislators should be scrapped immediately.

We have said it very clearly that it is time for all Nigerians to take special interest in what is happening in Abuja’s Three-Arms Zone. We have to, because if we don’t, then we are all done for. I don’t know any other country in the world where this kind of thing happens. The National Assembly must be able to conform to the generally accepted norm or principle that “the security and welfare of the people shall be the primary purpose of government”.

Away from the national Assembly, you also talked about the Maj. Al Mustapha’s case. Could you expatiate?
The issue is still in the court of law and so there is an extent to which one can comment on it. But what I have said before is that the case of Al Mustapha has dragged on for too long and I would personally have loved to see it concluded some years ago. I am sure you are wondering why I have been drawn into this case. I have no special interest in this case than any other Nigerian. Look at it this way, this is a case that has dragged on for 10 years.

That is 15 years of prison sentence, you ask yourself, if the man had been sentenced eight years ago, by now shouldn’t he have been out of prison? The obvious answer is yes. Justice that is delayed, is justice denied. What we are saying is that justice has not been served in this case, either to the state or the accused. When a case drags on for 10 years and the accused is held behind bars, we say such a case is inexcusable, wicked and merciless. Like I said, this case is an insult to our judicial system. It is a chapter from our ugly past, why not close it and end that sad, ugly past, once and for all.