Family protests Fasehun’s exclusion from democracy heroes list

The family of the late founder of the Oodua Peoples Congress, Dr Frederick Fasehun, have protested President Bola Tinubu’s exclusion of their son from the list of June 12 heroes contained in the Democracy Day address on Wednesday.

In a statement issued by Fasehun’s son, Remi, the family said excluding the OPC founder’s name from the list was uncharitable, ungrateful and unpardonable.

In his presidential address, Tinubu said Nigeria lost great heroes and heroines in the struggle for democracy.

“They bravely surrendered their futures, so that our nation might have a better one.

“Let us honour the memories of Chief Anthony Enahoro, Chief Abraham Adesanya, Commodore Dan Suleiman, Chief Arthur Nwankwo, Chief Chukwuemeka Ezeife, Admiral Ndubuisi Kanu, Chief Frank Kokori, Chief Bola Ige, Chief Adekunle Ajasin, Chief Ganiyu Dawodu, Chief Ayo Fasanmi, Chief Gani Fawehinmi, Chief Olabiyi Durojaiye, Dr. Beko Ransome-Kuti, Chima Ubani, and others who have transited to the higher realm,” the president said, mentioning other living heroes as well.

However, Remi noted that Tinubu was a beneficiary of his father’s activism and sacrifice for democracy, adding that his father helped the President escape into exile.

He said, “The President was a beneficiary of our father’s activism and sacrifice for democracy. Not only were they in the trenches together, but Fasehun helped Tinubu to escape into exile. In fact, it is on record that, when General Sani Abacha’s squad surrounded Senator Abraham Adesanya’s residence, where they held a meeting, Tinubu mounted the back of Fasehun and jumped the fence to flee into hiding and subsequently into exile.

 “Several people, who escaped from the country into exile and joined NADECO-Abroad, including Pa Anthony Enahoro, were personally taken by boat and bush paths, through the NADECO Route, by Dr. Fasehun. He was at a point the link between Pa Enahoro-NADECO and NUPENG, the union that played a pivotal role in that struggle.

 “He was thrown into prison several times by the General Sani Abacha junta, in Kirikiri, Ilorin and Kuje. At the infamous Inter Centre in Ikoyi Cemetery, he was held incommunicado for several months, an experience that inflicted immense damage on him physically and psychologically, to the extent of leaving his vision impaired for life.

 “His family and businesses paid dearly for his struggle for democracy. Today, his wife and children still pay the price of their father’s sacrifice to birth the democracy Nigeria has today.”

The statement said Fasehun’s businesses, Century Hotel and Besthope Hospital in Lagos, had become a shadow of the flourishing enterprises they used to be before he threw himself into the struggle for June 12.

It added that Fasehun specifically founded the socio-cultural group, Oodua People’s Congress, in 1994, as a vehicle for wresting democracy from the sit-tight military junta.

 “To ignore such an inimitable icon as Dr. Frederick Fasehun from any so-called list of June 12 and Democratic Heroes smacks of crass injustice and inexplicable vendetta,” it added.

The family recalled that in the struggle for June 12, hundreds of OPC members paid the supreme price, through extra-judicial killings by overzealous and ill-advised security agents.

While acknowledging that leading a huge nation like Nigeria could be a Herculean task, the Fasehuns urged Tinubu to put welfare packages in place to ameliorate the unprecedented poverty, inflation and insecurity bedevilling citizens.

 “We only hope that in the name of fairness and justice, the President will correct this anomaly and place Dr. Fasehun in Nigeria’s democratic Hall of Fame as he very well deserves.

 “Truth should not be sacrificed on the altar of politics, however. Dr. Fasehun should be given his well-deserved historical recognition as a true Nigerian Hero of Democracy,” it added.