By Abdul Razaq Ibrahim, Abeokuta
Following the national convention of the United Party of Nigeria (UPN) held in Kaduna on the 6th of March, which produced Professor Bankole Okuwa as the new national chairman of the party, the Professor of Political Science has warned the former interim national chairman, Dr Frederick Fasehun to stop impersonating the office of the national chairman.
The warning came on the heels of political gatherings recently held in Ondo state where Dr Frederick Fasehun, who was the interim national chairman when the party was resuscitated, paraded himself as the national chairman of the Unity Party of Nigeria (UPN).
Speaking in Abeokuta on Thursday on the current state of the party, Professor Okuwa stated that there was a national convention of the Unity Party of Nigeria (UPN) on the 6th March in Kaduna state and was supervised by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), which prompted the commission to confirm him as the national chairman of the party.
He said, “The INEC has just confirmed my election and has pronounced me as the national chairman of UPN. But, we have an embarrasing situation in our hands now, Dr Fasehun of the OPC has been claiming to be the national chairman and it is no longer the national chairman; he has been removed.
“The INEC does not recorgnise him, his name has been removed. My name is there as the national chairman of the party. I just appeal to him to respect himself, he is an elderly person. He does not need to behave like a rascal.
“I was elected by all the 36 states on the 6th March, that is the birthday of Chief Obafemi Awolowo and what we had to do was to wait for INEC to act on all that and they sent their men to supervise the election and they were satisfied and the report was adopted. I was well adopted, there is no division in UPN.”
When the new national chairman was asked whether he would stretch hands of fellowship to Dr Frederick Fasehun as a member of the party, Professor Okuwa, who assumes the national chairman by records of INEC, said he would welcome the former interim national chairman as a member of the party.
“We can reconcile, in fact, my own type of politics is not that of enmity, Fasehun is a good man, I respect him as a Nigerian who has been in existence for sometime now and we can approach each other. But, I think he should accept the fact that is out as the national chairman of the Unity Party of Nigeria (UPN)”, he added.