The Dr Frederick Fasehun faction of the O’odua People’s Congress has declared its support for President Bola Tinubu’s bid for re-election in the 2027 presidential election.
The group made its position known on Saturday in Lagos during the celebration of its 32nd Founders’ Day and the inauguration of a new National Executive Council.
The OPC was founded on August 29, 1994, by a group of Yoruba nationalists and activists led by the late Dr Frederick Fasehun, a medical doctor and human rights activist.
Speaking at the event, the re-elected President of the organisation, Wasiu Afolabi, said the OPC would support Tinubu in 2027 in the same manner it backed his presidential bid in 2023.
Afolabi said the organisation contributed to Tinubu’s victory in the 2023 presidential election, adding that one of the principles instilled by Fasehun was for the OPC to regard any Yoruba person occupying a political office as a collective project of the organisation.
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.”
The OPC leader also appealed to Nigerians from other regions, particularly the North, to support Tinubu’s re-election, arguing that this would enable the President to consolidate what he described as his visionary reforms.
“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,” he said.
Reflecting on the organisation’s history, Afolabi said the OPC emerged in August 1994 against the backdrop of the political crisis that followed the annulment of the June 12, 1993 presidential election won by the late Chief Moshood Abiola.
He described the annulment by the military government as an affront to millions of Nigerians who voted in the election and, particularly, to the Yoruba people.
Afolabi urged the President, state governors and members of the National Assembly to treat the country’s socio-economic and security challenges as a national emergency by implementing policies and programmes capable of addressing them.
He cited Section 14(2)(b) of the 1999 Constitution, which provides that “the security and welfare of the people shall be the primary purpose of government.”
On insecurity, Afolabi offered the OPC’s support to relevant government agencies, saying the organisation was prepared to collaborate with security authorities to protect communities across the South-West.
“We are ready to partner with relevant government agencies to secure the South-West from enemies within and enemies from outside,” he said.
On the 2027 elections, he called on the Independent National Electoral Commission and security agencies to remain neutral and ensure that every legitimate vote is counted.
The Chairman of the occasion and Chairman of the OPC Board of Trustees, Wale Oshun, described the organisation as an important legacy institution in Nigeria’s democratic struggle, particularly following the annulment of the June 12, 1993 election.
Oshun said the continued existence and activities of the organisation eight years after Fasehun’s death represented a tribute to the vision of its founder.
Hundreds of OPC members attended the anniversary celebration, which also featured the formal endorsement of Tinubu’s 2027 re-election bid.
