Fredrick Fasehun: The death of a tribalist -By Prof. Abdussamad Umar Jibia

Saturday the 1st of December 2018 will be remembered as the day one of the foremost Nigerian tribalists passed away. Reports say that Fredrick Faseun died at the age of 83 after many years of battling with Diabetes.

Unlike other leaders who are followed by encomiums and prayers to their graves from all parts of the country, Fredrick Faseun is only mourned by OPC thugs and of course politicians looking for votes. Politics is such a detestable game that will make men of integrity like Buhari to stoop so low as to mourn an acclaimed terrorist like Fredrick Fasehun.

Fredrick Faseun was a medical doctor who was supposedly trained to save lives. But because saving lives was not in his blood he abandoned medical practice to found one of the deadliest criminal gangs in Nigeria’s history. He did so in 1994 under the pretext of fighting the military out of power after the annulment of June 12, 1993 election.

Late Fredrick Fasehun, Founder of PLC.

The Odua Peoples Congress (OPC) which Fasehun founded has nine primary objectives stated in its constitution. These objectives revolve around uniting the Yoruba people, educating them about their history and mobilizing them for the achievement of self-determination and finding their place in the world. There is nowhere allegiance to the Nigerian state is mentioned or that the objectives shall be achieved peacefully. Democracy is not mentioned anywhere in the objectives of OPC. This dispels the notion in some quarters that it was Ganiy Adams that militarized OPC and that Fasehun was a peace-loving democrat. It also shows that annulment of June 12 election was only used as a smokescreen by Fasehun for the realization of an ulterior motive which was exposed by the activities of his gang in the years that followed.

The Human Rights Watch, a nonprofit, nongovernmental human rights organization, has accused OPC of being “responsible for numerous acts of violence and its members have killed or injured hundreds of people. While many of their most serious attacks were directed against Hausa, or people suspected to be northerners, their victims have also included Igbo, Ijaw and people from other ethnic groups.”

And The Human Rights Watch is right. The attacks are many. But perhaps the most deadly ones took place during the first term of Obasanjo (1999-2003). After taking over as the civilian president in 1999 Obasanjo took many decisions to sideline northerners especially those of the Islamic faith. That, no doubt, emboldened the OPC to launch its many attacks on Northerners living in Lagos and other parts of the southwest. The first major attack took place in Sagamu on the 17th July 1999. According to official reports, over 70 northerners were killed by the OPC militia. No OPC member was arrested for the massacre.

The Sagamu attack was followed by another on the November 25 of the same year in Ketu/Mile 12 market. Over 100 people of Northern extraction including women and children were killed by the OPC militia. What followed the Mile 12 attacks was very sad for any Northerner with an iota of pride. First, corpses of slain Northerners were prevented from being taken to the North for fear of reprisal attacks on Yoruba who had already sought refuge in various Military barracks in Northern states. The decision to bury the victims in the south was said to be on the advice of Northern elders, whatever that means. That would have been alright if the ‘elders’ had a plan for their people, at least a plan to go to any length to make sure that the OPC leaders were paid in their coin. Alas! There was nothing like that. Many of them were busy looking for favor from their killer regime. Secondly, for the same fear of reprisals, Obasanjo Government arrested Fredrick Fasehun among other OPC leaders. They were taken to court but after sometime the case file was said to be missing and Fasehun was released, no thanks to Lagos state Government under Ahmad Tinubu and the Obasanjo-led Federal Government.

OPC owes its survival to the goodwill it enjoys from the leaders of Yoruba land for even after being declared a terrorist organization by the United States and banned by Nigerian Government, OPC continued to operate without let or hindrance with the full protection of Yoruba elders and the state Governments in the southwest. For example, when along the line there was a misunderstanding between Fasehun and Gani Adams it was one of the state governors in the southwest who reconciled them.

From our experience with OPC, CAN, IPOB, MOSSOB, etc. one would expect the Northerners to learn their lessons. We don’t. The person who killed our brother yesterday is the same person we shall be selling today when he joins one of the contraptions we call our political party. There are today many of our killers or their protectors in those political parties we blindly join and protect in the name of democracy.

The creator of Faseun is a just lord. As Fredrick goes on to meet Him, we pray to Him to give the appropriate treatment to the founder of the deadly OPC. Of course, He will.

Professor Abdussamad Umar Jibia
Department of Mechatronics Engineering
Bayero University Kano
Kano, Nigeria.