Fasehun Paid To Destabilise S’West — ACN

It was a heated verbal exchange yesterday between the leadership of the Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN) and that of the Oodua People’s Congress (OPC) over a multi-billion contract naira allegedly awarded to the OPC leader Dr Frederick Fasehun which, the former claimed, was aimed at generating political crises in the southwest.
Addressing a press conference yesterday in Lagos through its spokesman, Lai Mohammed, the ACN accused the federal government of plotting to instigate political crises in the region in order to scuttle the 2015 general election having foreseen its defeat.
The party cited the contract awarded the OPC founder for the protection of oil pipelines in the southwest and the emergence of the Boko Haram sect in Lagos recently as evidence.
The ACN statement read in part: “The PDP is keenly aware that it has totally lost the confidence of all Nigerians, and the long-suffering people of this great country are now ready and eager to vote out this clueless party. Keenly aware of this fact, the PDP has now realised that if, indeed, the 2015 elections are free and fair and conducted in a conducive environment, there will be no chance for the party.
“What is the way out for the PDP? The party has decided to go for broke: either there will be no elections in 2015 or the polls will be conducted in an atmosphere of chaos, thereby paving the way for the PDP to do what it does best – rig the elections!”
Speaking further, he said, “Since the Boko Haram crisis broke out in some parts of the north, it has been largely restricted to those parts. This has made it possible to say to prospective foreign investors and others that the whole country has not been engulfed in violence and insecurity. But now, the areas that have been largely peaceful are being targeted by those who will only be happy when the whole country is in turmoil.
He listed three recent events to buttress his allegations: that a multi-billion naira contract has suddenly been awarded for the protection of oil pipelines in the southwest; that Fasehun, the main beneficiary of the contract, has suddenly hit on a plan to revive the defunct Unity Party of Nigeria (UPN), formed by the respected statesman Chief Obafemi Awolowo; the arrest of suspected Boko Haram members in Lagos, specifically at a house belonging to the government of Bayelsa State, President Goodluck Jonathan’s home state.
The ACN went on: “The questions that arise are: what is the real intention of the federal government in awarding this oil pipelines protection contract? Is it a mere coincidence that the main beneficiary of the multi-billion naira oil pipelines protection contract is also the same fellow who is promoting the revival of the UPN? Could the huge contract have been meant to provide the seed money for the promoters of this party?
“Is it true, as it is being alleged in certain quarters, that the essence of the contract is to recruit 30,000 youths who will ostensibly protect the pipelines, but in the real sense are ready hands to foment violence on demand in the southwest? Is it true that the so-called revival of the UPN is to provide a platform for anarchists and end-gamers in the southwest to infiltrate the ranks of the progressives and throw the region into chaos?
“Why is it that, suddenly, Boko Haram suspects are popping up in Lagos, and some of those who have been arrested were residing in a building owned by the Bayelsa State government? Is the Bayelsa state government aware of this and, if so, what has it done to evict them from the building?”
But speaking with LEADERSHIP yesterday, Dr Fasehun described Mohammed’s claim as a pack of lies.
According to him, the OPC requested a contract from the NNPC some three years ago for the protection of the oil pipelines that cover 5250km but since then there had not been any response either from the NNPC or the federal government. He wondered where the ACN spokesman got the contract details.
Fasehun said: “I am not aware of the multi-billion naira contract Lai Mohammed was talking about. It is true the OPC, not Frederick Fasehun, requested the NNPC to award the contract to offer protection services for the oil pipeline in the southwest three years ago. But since then, we have not heard anything from the federal government. Even if we had been given the contract, are we not Nigerians and are we not qualified for the contract from the federal government of Nigeria?
“We have over six million people in the OPC; if the federal government gives a contract to the OPC, not to Fasehun, why are you challenging the government Nigeria for giving out the contract? If the contract is N2.4billion as Lai Mohammed claimed, I am not capable of protecting the entire pipelines; we have to involve our teeming jobless youths since the contract would cover 5,250 km. The contract is not meant for me, or for my children; it is for Nigerian people – and Lai Mohammed is saying it is wrong?”
“We have been crying of marginalisation in the South-West; we have saying that the federal government is not doing enough for the Yoruba; giving OPC such a contract would have shown that the government is not insensitive to the our yearnings as a race, but Lai Mohammed said that it is wrong. Claiming that the contract is aimed at scuttling the 2015 general election is a big lie. We applied for the contract three years ago; they have not replied us, and if they have and Lai Mohammed has hijacked our letter, he should return the letter to us because where he got the figure he was quoting, I do not know.”
LEADERSHIP reports that the OPC leader has never been a fan of the ACN national leader Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu.

Abati to ACN: Stop playing jungle politics
But the presidency yesterday fired back at the ACN, saying the party’s allegations against president Jonathan was part of its emerging pattern of disinformation and politics by trickery which are uncharitable to the country’s democratic experience.
A statement by presidential spokesman, Dr. Reuben Abati, entitled, ‘Lai Mohammed’s Public Disinformation Tactics’, described Mohammed’s allegation – that the federal government had awarded an oil pipeline protection contract to serve as a smokescreen to fund activities that would create chaos in the southwest – as conspiratorial.
Abati urged Nigerians “to pay careful attention to the tactics of those who believe that, by crying wolf where none exists, they can create doubt about the efforts of the Jonathan administration.”
According to him, “These allegations are blatantly false and grossly misleading. Fact is, no such contract was ever awarded by this administration. While it is legitimate to seek political power, the ACN has an obligation to be responsible with facts and remain truthful with the evidence at all times; and to engage the government of the day constructively on issues of national importance; and not negatively.”
He accused the ACN of consistently manufacturing lies to scare and mislead the public, which he described as jungle politics.
“We have been proven right once more, with the deliberate disinformation engaged in today by Alhaji Lai Mohammed. At a press conference in Lagos, this Thanksgiving Sunday, addressed by Alhaji Lai Mohammed, he continued this pattern when he alleged that the federal government was deliberately promoting policies that will plunge the nation into crisis with the objective of scuttling the 2015 elections,” Abati said.
“He tried to exploit real challenges confronting the nation by instilling fear in the populace through the use of unrelated events, hoping to use such patterns and trends to build a conspiratorial case. Like all conspiracies, the case made fell quickly like a pack of cards when confronted with the facts”.
He noted that Jonathan had presided over major elections since his assumption of office, citing the 2011 general elections, the 2012 gubernatorial elections in Edo, Kogi, Adamawa, Sokoto, Cross River and Bayelsa, among other elections in different parts of the country, as instances of the president’s sincerity towards the electoral process.
“The more alarming aspect of the disingenuous press conference was the deliberate attempt to exploit religious and ethnic differences amongst citizens to create a state of siege and fear ahead of the 2015 elections. This was clear in the use of the national Boko Haram crisis and the ‘terror-baiting’ of the populace,” he said.
In the same vein, a group, the Northern Alternative Forum (NAF), has urged Nigerians to cross-check properly whether a party like the ACN, which has resorted to telling all forms if lies to discredit the government of the day, is a party to reckon with as an alternative to the one in power.
In a statement by its chairman, Mallam Gidado Ibrahim, NAF said that as a strong voice from the northern part of the count, it will not look the other way while a president it considers as doing his best to change the once dwindling fortunes of the country for the better is being criticised unfairly.
“Let’s be sincere with ourselves, it is normal for opposition to serve as a check against the government of the day and ensure that it is up and doing, but when what we see as criticisms are mere concoctions of blatant falsehood, targeted at the person of Mr. President who is battling hard to save the country from tottering towards economic eclipse, Nigerians have the right to ask the opposition to stop misleading the people,” Ibrahim added.