The new National Chairman of the United Party of Nigeria, Prof. Bankole Okuwa, has warned the former Interim National Chairman of the party, Dr. Frederick Fasehun, to stop parading himself as the party’s national chairman.
Okuwa, a professor of Political Science, said the position had been determined by the party’s national convention in Kaduna on March 6, 2015, where he was elected the chairman of the UPN.
The national chairman explained that his reaction followed a development at a political gathering recently held in Ondo State, where Fasehun reportedly paraded himself as the national chairman of the party.
Addressing journalists in Abeokuta on Thursday on the current state of the party, Okuwa said the party held its national convention on March 6 in Kaduna, which he said was supervised by the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC with the electoral body confirming him as the national chairman of the UPN.
Okuwa spoke in company with the Deputy Governorship candidate of the party in Ogun State in the April 11 poll, Alhaja Olatunde Olatunbosun.
He said that “The INEC has just confirmed my election and has pronounced me as the national chairman of UPN. But, we have an embarrassing situation on our hands now.
“Dr. Fasehun of the OPC has been claiming to be the national chairman and he is no longer the national chairman. He has been removed. The INEC does not recognise 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 March 6; that is the birthday of Chief Obafemi Awolowo and what we had to do was to wait for INEC to act on that. It sent its 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 his hands of fellowship to Fasehun as a member of the party, Okuwa said he would welcome the former interim national chairman as a member of the party.
He said, “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 he is out as the national chairman of the Unity Party of Nigeria.”
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