Jonathan is not a magician, but a politician – Fasehun

The Chairman of the Unity Party of Nigeria (UPN), Dr Frederick Fasehun, in this interview says his party has been facing a very powerful and stupendously rich opposition, which according to him is using its wealth to attack UPN. Fasehun who christened himself ‘an addicted democrat’ promises to carry placards if INEC chairman, Prof Attahiru Jega was not allowed to conduct the forthcoming election. Excerpts.The Yoruba again, appear to be divided on who gets the baton at the center, where is the place of Yoruba in this democratic dispensation?Fredrick FasehunIt is a media creation. The Yoruba have been in the forefront of the struggle for democracy and they have not receded. But suffice to say that it will not be democratic if every Yoruba person faces one side. Then, that is no democracy, rather, a totalitarian system. By so doing, the Yoruba have culturally taken their normal position. Even during the days of Awolowo, they had different views. It is not different from what you have now and in my view, that is democracy. Chairman Mao Zedong says: “Let a thousand flowers blossom”. The more ideas, the merrier. Mother could be APC while sons and daughters could be PPA or APGA.But the younger generation seems to be worried about these discordant tunes on political decision especially coming from the elders?I don’t think so. By and large, the younger generation is educated and that allows them to regulate their minds on what they feel is right. They want to make their own decision and decide where to belong politically. The youths are progressive and dynamic. We have been agitating over the years that we want a change. I must say it is not a change in personality; I rather want a change in the constitution and in the structure.Could that be the reason you are opposed to APC?Absolutely. Politics should not bring hostility. The opposition is a shadow government and does not necessarily have to criticise the government in power. You may identify the shortcomings of the government but you should not castigate them or set the country ablaze. You could offer your advice where you think they have got it wrong explaining what you would have done to make the situation better. They are supposed to be improving on the mistakes made by government and operate in advisory capacity. But the opposition in this country is to set the polity ablaze.Don’t you think your stance is contrary to the philosophy of the old UPN of Awolowo?No, I was one of those who drove the military back to their barracks and that is why I maintain that Buhari is a soldier and should not have anything to do with democracy. He is not qualified to guide democracy. Since it is not possible for Leopard to change its spots, it is not possible for Buhari to become a democrat. I am an addicted democract and we have maintained and sustained the position of the UPN over the years.We have not heard of any UPN candidates contesting for election especially at the gubernatorial level and again you have adopted Jonathan as your presidential candidate, is it that you just want to enjoy the razzmatazz of the election?I don’t think so. It is not about razzmatazz. We mean well for this country. We will also do our best to makesure there are political changes in the system. Don’t forget that we came in only about eighteen months ago. Others have been on the field for fifteen years or more. There is no way we will come in fifteen monthsand begin to flex muscles. We came in to face a very powerful and stupendously rich opposition and using their wealth to attack UPN. We don’t practice politics of hostilities, rather we are practicing civilized politicsand we will not heat up the polity. They will soon realise that money is one thing but reason is another.Do you think the Yoruba Agenda relating to the structural change you are advocating will be implemented under President Jonathan?Buhari has never supported the confab. Do you think he would implement what came up from the confab? Jonathan allowed the confab, he financed it, and made sure the confab was a success. Do you think he willthrow out the decision of the confab when he gets a second term? No. He will uphold the recommendationsof the confab. We know Buhari will throw it out completely.There are about 643 recommendations, four years may not be enough to implement the recommendationsbut I am sure the major ones will be implemented. Among the major ones are true federalism, regional autonomy, control of resources among others. So, no other person will be able to do it other than Jonathan. That was why we in our party adopted him. I have seen Jonathan with all his mistakes but importantly we know what is capable of doing. The media have been very unfriendly with Jonathan. I am sorry, but you didn’t tell us that he has created 12 more universities; you did not tell us about the Almajiri Schools, about the East-West road, the on-going refurbishing of the rail system among others. In the past, we know where we were in the economy but recently, we got the status of the biggest economy in Africa. You also did not recognise the fact that since he came to power he has not jailed anybody.Maybe the impunity ignited the call for change in the polity?We recently celebrated our centenary, and for 100 years back, Nigeria had remained at one point, going round and round without development. It had been religious and ethnic sentiments. If Nigeria had failed to develop in 100 years post amalgamation, should we not sit down to find out why we have failed to grow? We remained a country but we have failed to build a nation. Look at the countries in the South-East Asia, whereas many of them became politically independent as Nigeria, but now, they are economic giants. But this young man came and in just four years, he started turning things around. About three to four decades, successive leaders had come and gone, but each of them left Nigeria worse than they met her. Jonathan has come to say there must be a positive change. He is not a magician, but a politician. You should also realise that it is not easy to govern a country of about 170 million people as Nigeria. He has presided over a war ridden part of the country. Boko Haram was foisted on him.How do you mean?They told him they were going to make the country ungovernable for him if he won; and what they said now is that if he wins this forthcoming election, they will form a parallel government. That is a treasonable statement. I wonder why those who said that have not been in Kirikiri now. You will form a parallel government? My goodness, that’s a coup! Thank God, they have not repeated it. They should know that there are people in this country who will take them on that. We will not allow anybody to send us back to those dark days.We have not seen much of issue based campaign; instead, it has been mudslinging and attack on personalities, why has it degenerated to this level?That is exactly my point. If you want to contest for an election, you don’t have to be hostile. In Great Britainwhere I was educated, when the Labour Party was in power, of course the Conservative will be in opposition. I remember an incident, when both parties were campaigning on Union Street in Scotland, the two parties were the both end of the street. The Labor Party had its public address system damaged and when the Conservatives finished its campaign which was close by, it gave its public address systems to theLabour party for campaign. Can you imagine the civilisation in politics? If it was here, there will be jubilation by the opposing side. That sets me thinking about the level of civility in my country. During politics, the environment will be so tensed that you don’t want to go to certain places or go out at nights because of violence. That is not politics.The speculation about removal of Jega is rife; don’t you think the ouster of the INEC boss will affect the credibility of the election?There is no truth in the story. It is media speculation. Virtually every forth night, all parties chairmen meet with Jega in Abuja and we discuss various issues. My take is that why are we in a hurry, instead of having a shabby election and ending up in a brink, let us be patient a bit and do something more credible. Hitherto,there are reports of PVCs and disenfranchisement. I am not saying we should shift the election indefinitely, but let us have a credible election and if you disenfranchise the people, how do you have a credible election? The PVC should be super abundant. The election is barely some weeks, now, do you think anybody will want Jega out? Jega has performed very well but unfortunately his subordinates are not doing enough. I am a chairman of a party and I know what I go through. I am not one of those who are thinking of Jega’s ouster and I will carry placards if Jega is removed and I will tell the authorities that: “Let Jega remain.”OPC was a cultural group when it was formed, don’t you think it has changed from its original ideas?No! I founded OPC; it was a socio-cultural group. Socio-cultural of course involved politics, even Music, dancing and eating including the ways of life of the people.The group is seen to have derailed from its socio-cultural activities having involved in militancy of sortWe are not actually into serious militancy. But we are into providing security of lives and property. The OPC was meant to protect the Yoruba interest and to ensure justice is done in relation to other ethnic nationalities. The country belongs to all of us. I must also say that when you want to carry out security, it will involve some measure of force. Security is not a tea-partyWhat is the future of OPC?It is very bright. OPC will go on to support democracy and nationalism. Some of the youths were at the Confab and they contributed their ideas to the forum. We have grown from about six people that started it to about six million members.