Pay Me My Money – OPC Leader, Fredrick Fasehun Tells Buhari

Founder of the Odua Peoples Congress, OPC, Dr. Fredrick

Fasehun yesterday requested the President Muhammadu

Buhari-led Federal Government to pay him and his

organisation the money owed them for the protection of the

nation’s oil pipelines.

Speaking at a quarterly interactive media roundtable in

Lagos, the national chairman of the Unity Party of Nigeria,

UPN, explained that six companies were given the contract

by the Goodluck Jonathan administration to guard

pipelines belonging to the Nigerian National Petroleum

Corporation, NNPC.

Noting that a total of 18,000 personnel were sent to the

field out of which OPC contributed 4,000, Fasehun

lamented that his organisation was not given a dime

before the contract, adding that after Jonathan’s exit, the

contract was terminated with nothing given to the OPC.

According to him, “We were given the contract on March

15, 2015 and we deployed youths into the jungle. They

faced insects, snakes and other wild animals and some of

them even died. The government did not pay us a kobo

before or during the time of the contract which ended on

June 15.

“We have asked our lawyers to study the terms of the

contract. An official in the NNPC told me that we had been

paid but I told him that we had not received a penny. We

call the attention of the powers that be to look into this.

The holy books say that a worker deserves his wage.”

Recounting that Lai Mohammed had alleged that Jonathan

gave the OPC over N2bn as mobilisation money for the

election under the guise of pipeline protection, Fasehun

urged Mohammed, who is now the Minister of Information

and Culture, to withdraw the statement and correct the

wrong impression.

“Someone who is now a minister once told Nigerians that I

collected N2.8bn. Lai Mohammed, who I call a liar, is now

the government’s mouthpiece and he must correct that

impression,” he stated.

The OPC leader, while noting that Nigerians are yet to see

the change the APC promised during the electioneering,

said Buhari had spent over six months in office but had

failed to impress Nigerians.

“Nigerians are angry today. They wanted a change and

cheered when the APC came into power but the cheer has

now become a jeer. Let the government know that this is

not the change Nigerians voted for,” he added.