Dr. Fredrick Fasehun is the founder and president of the Odua Peoples Congress (OPC). In this interview, the OPC leader speaks on the state of the nation, Buhari’s government, N2 billion NNPC pipeline contract amongst other issues. Excerpts:
By May 29 this year, President Muhammadu Buhari administration would have been two years in office. What is your rating of this government looking at their performance?
The government has not performed as it supposed to. Buhari himself has done very well, showing some form of leadership but the government as a whole has performed below expectation. When they were preparing to come in, the whole country was agog; there was cheering and cheering and in another few weeks, they would have been there for two years and Nigerians are still yearning for the day that they will be able to say thank God we voted for this new government. In other words, they came with the people cheering and in two years, the people are no longer cheering; they are jeering because government is performing below expectation. They were hungry, they are still hungry; they were angry, they are still angry. An empty stomach is an angry mind. They still have the opportunity to change their methods but one wonders if they will be able to change their strategies within two years. They have spent two years and there is nothing much to show for it, except identifying of those who have looted our treasury. Identification of treasury looters is not the main thing. Asking them to confront the law of the land is the main thing. Who doesn’t know that the Nigerian elites form the stealing group? Buhari has shown good leadership. He said he was going to probe and he is probing. A tree does not make a forest. Buhari on his own cannot hit his hands on his chest and say he has performed very well. He needs to say we have performed very well. The government is not “I” but “we”; then Buhari does not constitute the government. It is he and his advisers that constitute the government. I personally define democracy as the best form of bad government because no government is good.
What is the relationship between OPC and the present government of PMB?
OPC has never had any relationship with any government because it is an organization that is non-committal. We say it, the way we see it. If government is doing well, we clap for them. If they are not doing well, we tell them they are not doing enough.
When APC government assumed power, there were so much expectation from the government. Where did you think we got it wrong?
We got it wrong in the sense that we over trusted those who were trying to convince us to vote for them. We thought that they were going to be truthful to their words. Unfortunately, politicians are like leopards, they don’t change their spots. Some of us said it loud and clear; many of us did not even believe what some of us said. The large majority that did not believe the critics are the ones that are regretting that they fell too easily to the government vocalization. We were shouting it at that time; Tunji Braithwaite talked and he was labelled a critic, Femi Falana said it and he was called a critic, we too were not left out. But the best friends to governments are the critics because they are like people who are watching a soccer game from the side. They see what players are doing wrong. Unfortunately, people who are in power don’t believe critics are friends of the government. If I were in power, I would formulate a Council of Critics, so that we listen to them and take their advices. Leaders in this country don’t listen to those who are labelled as critics.
The Senate President, Olusola Saraki recently criticized the way government is handling the anti-corruption crusade publicly. Do you think that is right, judging from the fact that Saraki is part of the present government; or are we looking at 2019?
We have been looking at 2019. Since we finished 2015, we have been looking at 2019. I wouldn’t be surprised if those who have their eyes on offices criticizes those who are already in high seat. The challenge is not right because the Senate President is part of the government. He would have done that correction in a private room in Aso Rock.
The CBN has been pumping out Dollars into the system to arrest the forex issues. Do you think that is the right approach to the current economic crises in the country?
It is the “wrongest” solution to the economic crises. The economy of any nation is dictated by its productivity. When you are not producing and only consuming, the country is not healthy because a consuming economy is not healthy economy. We depend entirely on foreign import. How enough would you expect importation of toothpick support the economy. What can only support the economy is good productivity. South Korea came to political limelight at the same time with Nigeria and today, they are a productivity economy. South Korea was a backward country 30 years ago but you will have no claim to say that it is a growing economy. It is grown and a self-sustaining economy.
How do you think the issue of kidnapping and Fulani herdsmen can be ended?
There is no crime that Nigerians commit now that doesn’t have sanctions in the past. Didn’t we have laws against rape, murder, robber, kidnapping? It is just that the people have changed and become lawless. The people in power have changed and become corrupt. The lawmakers are not doing enough as they work only in three days and cart away millions of Naira as salaries. Because they smile home with 36 million Naira per annum, the labour unions find it very easy to go on strike. That is why our economy is not improving. Factors like agriculture, education, power, SMEs have been neglected. That is why government is beginning to say let everybody be a farmer. It should be part of us. We don’t make use of our land space. Lagos to Ibadan is virgin land and not cultivated. When foreigners come, the marvel at the amount of uncultivated forests. Virtually everybody in China is a farmer. Government is wasting its time telling people to go and buy palm nuts and sell to the government. You produce it and let government buy it. There was no longer in Nigeria until this social scientist came.
At a time, the federal government awarded a contract to New Age which engaged members of OPC in March 2015 to secure Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) pipelines in the South-West zone of the country. How far about the contract?
They have not paid a Kobo. We had to go to court because we signed a contract with them before we embarked on that job. It surprises me when a government has entered into a contract with his citizens to perform certain things and yet break it. The recommendations of that contract was made by the government and its agents and yet after completing the job without any query on the execution of the job, they cannot pay. It is very embarrassing. When we waited and nothing was done. We put about 4020 people on the pipeline and the government on its own recommended that they would pay N1, 500 per head a day. That was their own suggestion in the contract and we took the job. No Nigerian should earn that but because there is no work or job to do, we complied with the suggestion of the government. They didn’t give us Kobo to sustain us. It was a three month contract and we did it judiciously. After three months, we left the pipeline. For years now, government has been dilly dallying. We lost six of our members; government didn’t even send us letter of sympathy, let alone pay the workforce. We are yet to be paid roughly N2 billion. They refused and said we should negotiate. I said I cannot negotiate after the contract and that that is not democracy. We have went to court 18 to 19 times. Now the government is saying pay them the daily per capital recommendation but they will not pay anything to support the contract. Should we not be protected from the glare of the sun, rain, snakes, wild animals; should we not eat have generators and torchlights? That is why we have these figures. And I have to pay to bury and the government is sitting comfortably at Aso Rock. However, they later said they would pay one third of what we agreed. But even that one third has not been paid. While we were doing that job, we didn’t steal one pint of fuel.
Which area precisely did OPC protect?
We protected from Shagamu, Mosimi to Ibadan
How were you able to convince your members that you have not been paid and also their confidence in you?
My people know me and I have been leading them for 24 years. They know me. They have not found me cheating in any form. I am not a rich man but I cannot go out of my way to destroy a name I have been building for 82 years. They know if I have collected money, I will not go to court. Some close to the government agencies must have also gone to ask and they will tell them no. The pride of OPC is that no organization has lived as long as OPC.
Since the government didn’t pay, how were you able to manage the contract?
I borrowed because they have to be paid, buy food and other necessities. But government remained obdurate and unpathetic. They don’t know the consequence of their actions is futuristic.
Buhari has ill health and we have also had a similar situation when Yar A’dua was in power.
What do you think Buhari should do, looking at his present state of health?
I am asking Nigerians to dedicate a date for every Nigerian to pray for Buhari. The prayer of the righteous availath much. When the Israel people cried up to him, he helped them. It is part of the underdevelopment of the country. You will not be right to assess Buhari, unless you assess him in good health. Health must be intact before you can assess the work. Nigerians should pray against premature death of their leaders. Journalists, traders, doctors, lawyers, teachers should pray for such not to happen.
What are your views on self-determination and call for the restructuring of the country?
My message is that self-determination is social justice. Social justice is also an emanation of democracy. Democracy is social justice. If we don’t have a government that is practicing social justice, it is not democracy. There is great need to restructure Nigeria.
