Saturday’s presidential election may have exposed a major crack within the rank of the Oodua Peoples Congress, OPC, as the founder of the pan Yoruba group, Dr. Fredrick Fasehun, and its National Coordinator, Otunba Gani Adams, have disagreed sharply over the role the group is expected to play during the election.
Dr. Fasehun, in an interview with The Punch, insisted that members of his organization will monitor the polls all over the country.
According to the OPC founder, the OPC would forestall violence at the polls, arguing that there would be no conflict of interest between the OPC and the security agencies.
“We will monitor elections. We are going to man every polling booth in the land,” he said.
On whether there would be a conflict of interest between what his members are doing and the role of security agencies, Fasehun said: “There is no conflict.”
Answering a question on what the reaction of the group would be in the event of a breakout of violence, the OPC founder said his group will not be part of any violence, promising that they will prevent it.
Speaking on the ability of the OPC to deploy its men all over the country, Fasehun said: “It seems you don’t know our population. The OPC has over six million members and we will have them in all the polling units across the country by the grace of God.”
However, Gani Adams, in reaction, said members of the organization would not be stationed at polling units, insisting that members of the group, like every other Nigerian, would vote and return to their homes.
He however said the OPC would continue to support Jonathan.
He said: “No, the OPC is not ready to be part of any security arrangement on the Election Day. The security on Election Day is the responsibility of law enforcement agencies. The OPC will go to the polling booths to vote and make sure the votes are counted and after that, the party agents will sign and everybody will go home.
“There is a standing instruction that OPC members should not be used by any political party as thugs. Our support for Jonathan does not mean that we will be used as thugs. We are supporting Jonathan on the basis of exercising our franchise as citizens of Nigeria.”
According to Adams, the OPC would make sure the elections were as peaceful as the protests it held on the streets of Lagos last Monday, adding that members of the group were no longer violent.
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