The late Frederick Fasehun faction of the O’odua People’s Congress (OPC) on Saturday declared support for President Bola Tinubu’s re-election in 2027.

The ‌⁠‍‍⁠⁠‌‍‌⁠⁠⁠‍‌group made the declaration in Lagos on Saturday at the celebration of its 32nd Founders Day and inauguration of a new National Executive Council (NEC).

OPC was founded on August 29, 1994, by a group of Yoruba nationalists and activists led by the late Mr Fasehun, a medical doctor and human rights activist.

Speaking at the event, the OPC’s re-elected president, Wasiu Afolabi, promised that the group would work for the president the same way they did for his first shot at the presidency in 2023.

He said, “We contributed our quota to ensuring the victory of Tinubu in 2023. One lesson from Fasehun is that the organisation should regard any Yoruba man in office as OPC’s corporate project.

“As a result of this orientation that our founder gave us, and if the right atmosphere is created, we shall still queue behind President Tinubu for the 2027 presidential election.

“We also urge the other regions to support the President’s second-term bid to help him perfect the visionary reforms he has embarked upon.

“The north especially should realise that  it is payback time for the backing that Tinubu  gave to  late President Muhammadu Buhari’s two tenures of eight years.”

Mr Afolabi recalled the national crisis that brought about the formation of OPC in August 1994, saying that  “Some 32 years ago when Dr Frederick Fasehun took the initiative to establish OPC, it was to fulfil a divine assignment. OPC was born as a child of necessity.”

Mr Afolabi said the June 12 mandate of the late Chief Moshood Abiola was stolen by the military government, which was not only an insult to the eight million Nigerian voters, who had given that mandate to MKO but especially a direct insult to the over 40 million-strong Yoruba race.

Mr Afolabi urged the president, governors, all national and federal legislators to promote policies, programmes and projects that would tackle the prevailing issues and challenges in Nigeria as a matter of national emergency.

“The leaders must remember that the Nigerian Constitution they all swore to uphold says in Section 14(2)(b) that the security and welfare of the people shall be the primary purpose of government,” he said.

Mr Afolabi also offered the assistance of OPC toward solving the “monster problem of insecurity,” saying, “We are ready to partner with relevant government agencies to secure the South-West from enemies within and enemies from outside.”

On the 2027 elections, he urged the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) and security agencies to remain neutral and ensure every Nigerian’s vote is counted.

Also speaking, chairman of the occasion, Wale Oshun, said the group remained a foremost legacy organisation in Nigeria’s struggle for democracy after the military annulled the June 12, 1993 election of the late MKO Abiola.

Mr Oshun, who heads OPC’s board of trustees, said it is a glowing tribute to the founder, Mr Fasehun’s vision, that the organisation has continued to thrive eight years after the leader died.

Hundreds of members of the group were on the ground to celebrate its 32nd anniversary and to also endorse Mr Tinubu’s second tenure. 

(NAN)