Fasehun Threatens Fire For Fire Over UPN Crisis EMBATTLED national chairman of the Unity Party of Nigeria (UPN), Dr Fredrick Fasehun, on Wednesday, threatened fire for fire with those he described as dissidents within the party’s behind the simmering leadership crisis in the party. Fasehun, who addressed a press conference in Okota, Lagos State, accused them of planning to pay agents to launch violent attacks on loyal UPN members as part of their alleged agenda to discredit the party and other committed party leaders. He claimed that despite his effort to wean “my associates from their selfish, mercantile and Machiavellian objective, they revolted,” adding that they were only underestimating his “passion to give Nigeria a truly democratic party built on integrity.” He alleged that the dissidents were “working with a well-financed APC mole planted in-house to provoke the implosion of UPN, but that he and other loyal and patriotic party members of the NEC were determined to make sure the evil machinations failed. He said the party would undergo a restructuring to make sure that only persons, who were ready to uphold the UPN constitution run its affairs. He raised the alarm that the other group was planning to use paid agents to launch attacks on party loyalists, warning them to drop any such idea, as “nobody has a monopoly of violence.” He added: “Although we shall not go out of our way to initiate attacks on any one, we must warn that we shall not fold our arms and watch forces of evil harass our members and associates. We shall defend ourselves and we promise to return fire-for-fire.” Meanwhile, a high powered meeting of the UPN, comprised of Lagos State stakeholders, presided over by the Lagos State Caretaker Committee chairman of the party, Chief Kunle Oshinoiki, was held at Sheraton Hotel, Ikeja, Lagos. The meeting reviewed the position of the party in Lagos State and noted that one Mr Femi Ikuomola, who presently parades himself as chairman of the party, was planning a flag-off of the party in Lagos State. For the purpose of clarity, the UPN educated the general public that Chief Oshinoiki was the Lagos State Caretaker chairman approved by the National Executive Committee (NEC) and recognised by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) for Lagos State and anybody who deals with any other pretender to that office does so at his/her own risk. Fasehun said the “fifth columnists’ triggered the rowdiness witnessed during the party’s National Executive Committee (NEC) meeting, held on October 13, which he said was hurriedly adjourned. He accused the “handful of misguided officers” of reconvening to hold illegal proceedings, where they claimed to have slammed an indefinite suspension on him as national chairman and replaced him with his deputy, Dr Abubakar Manzo, as acting national chairman. According to him, the purported NEC meeting did not conform to the UPN constitution, which stipulates in Article III, Section 4(2) that: “The council shall meet once every quarter at such time and place as may be prescribed by the national secretary on the direction of the national chairman of the party,” and Article V, Section 1(2) that states: “The national secretary of the party shall keep proper records of all proceedings and minutes of the meetings. He/she shall summon meetings at the direction of the chairman of the party.” He said the UPN constitution succinctly empowered the national chairman to direct the national secretary to arrange for meetings of officers. Recalling that similar meetings were summoned in the past by the so-called fifth columnists, Fasehun accused a principal officer of the party of allegedly distributing illicit money to a few other members after the party had directed that each NEC member should bear his expenses to attend a meeting. He said the distributed money was purportedly meant to cover the transportation, accommodation and feeding of the few beneficiaries. Fasehun also alleged that the NEC official declared just N2 million out of the N4.2 million said to have donated to the party by one of the prominent UPN members in the South-West. He alleged the action amounted to gross violation of the extant rules laid by INEC in the demand for party transparency and accountability and the commission’s oversight on the parties, as contained in Section 89 (1) of the Electoral Act 2010. Fasehun claimed that the October 13 proved that the so-called dissidents were acting out a script written by politicians, political interests and parties that felt threatened by the resuscitation of UPN. He added: “What these fifth columnists have now demonstrated is that they neither want to associate with nor remain in the same party with other law-abiding officers in the UPN NEC, including the national chairman. “We respect their resolve and their resolution to leave the party. They leave of their own volition and on behalf of the UPN National Executive Council and UPN members nationwide, we hereby wish them well in their future endeavours. “For us, the dedicated, committed and bona fide members of the UPN NEC, the exit of these Fifth Columnists is good riddance to bad rubbish.
Posted on: Thu, 23 Oct 2014 11:23:12 +0000
Trending Topics
Recently Viewed Topics
© 2015