Founder of the Odua
Peoples Congress, OPC, Dr. Fredrick Fasehun yesterday requested the President
Muhammadu Buhari-led Federal Government to pay him and his organisation the
money owed them for the protection of the nation’s oil pipelines.
Speaking at a quarterly
interactive media roundtable in Lagos, the national chairman of the Unity Party
of Nigeria, UPN, explained that six companies were given the contract by the
Goodluck Jonathan administration to guard pipelines belonging to the Nigerian
National Petroleum Corporation, NNPC.
Noting that a total of
18,000 personnel were sent to the field out of which OPC contributed 4,000,
Fasehun lamented that his organisation was not given a dime before the
contract, adding that after Jonathan’s exit, the contract was terminated with
nothing given to the OPC.
According to him, “We
were given the contract on March 15, 2015 and we deployed youths into the
jungle. They faced insects, snakes and other wild animals and some of them even
died. The government did not pay us a kobo before or during the time of the
contract which ended on June 15.
“We have asked our
lawyers to study the terms of the contract. An official in the NNPC told me
that we had been paid but I told him that we had not received a penny. We call
the attention of the powers that be to look into this. The holy books say that
a worker deserves his wage.”
Recounting that Lai
Mohammed had alleged that Jonathan gave the OPC over N2bn as mobilisation money
for the election under the guise of pipeline protection, Fasehun urged
Mohammed, who is now the Minister of Information and Culture, to withdraw the
statement and correct the wrong impression.
“Someone who is now a
minister once told Nigerians that I collected N2.8bn. Lai Mohammed, who I call
a liar, is now the government’s mouthpiece and he must correct that
impression,” he stated.
The OPC leader, while
noting that Nigerians are yet to see the change the APC promised during the
electioneering, said Buhari had spent over six months in office but had failed
to impress Nigerians.
“Nigerians are angry
today. They wanted a change and cheered when the APC came into power but the
cheer has now become a jeer. Let the government know that this is not the
change Nigerians voted for,” he added.
-Daily Post
No comments:
Post a Comment