News

January 3, 2013

Fasehun laments dearth of vibrant rights activists

BY ABDULWAHAB ABDULAH

President of the Oodua Peoples Congress, OPC, Dr Frederick Fasehun, Wednesday reviewed activities in the country in the outgoing year and conclude that Nigerians were not yet willing to challenge the political leaders to make them accountable for their actions.

He resolved that unless Nigerians made it a point of duty to engage their representatives in government to ensure that the country convoked a national conference to fashion out a peoples’ constitution, the country would continue to drift.

Dr Frederick Fasehun

Dr Frederick Fasehun

At an interactive media roundtable in Lagos, Fasehun said: “Political office holders have over the years kept deceiving and disorganising our people without providing them necessary infrastructure, adequate security and welfare packages.

“Something has to be done fast to ensure that the system does not continue like this.”

He lamented that since the generation of the old rights activists of the likes of Chief Anthony Enahoro, Beko Kuti, Chima Ubani, Gani Fawehinmi and host of others were no more, things were taking different shapes for the worst.

“The way things are now, we are going trough a revolution in Nigeria. But what I cannot advocate is a bloody revolution.

“What can solve the wave of corruption and uneven governance we are experiencing now is the convocation of a national conference, where we can sit down round a table and determine our future together.”

On the state of the security of the country, Fasehun decried the attitude of government to lack of safety pervading the country, owing to incidence of  kidnapping, armed banditry and terrorism from the Boko Haram group.

He advocated that security vote be given to the local council who are more closer to the people to address their security problem.