Prof. Bankole Okuwa, has warned the interim National Chairman, Dr. Frederick Fasehun, to stop parading himself as the national chairman of UPN.
He issued the warning in reaction to Fasehun’s comment that he is the national chairman of the party during a political gathering recently held in Ondo State.
Speaking to newsmen in Abeokuta on Thursday, Okuwa said the party’s convention held in Kaduna on March 6 and supervised by the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, produced him as the national chairman of the party.
The Professor of Political Science stated that, “INEC has just confirmed my election and has pronounced me as the National Chairman of the UPN.”
“But we have an embarrassing situation on our hands now. Dr. Fasehun of the Oodua People’s Congress has been claiming to be the national chairman and he is no longer the national chairman.
“He has been removed. INEC does not recognise him, his name has been removed. I am the national chairman of the party. I just appeal to him to respect himself. He is an elderly person.
“I was elected by all the 36 state chapters on March 6, which is the birthday of Chief Obafemi Awolowo and what we had to do was to wait for INEC to act on that.
“They sent their officials to supervise the election and they were satisfied and the report was adopted. I was well adopted; there is no division in the UPN.”
Okuwa assured he would recognise Fasehun as a top member of the party but that he must do what is right.
He said, “We can reconcile. My own type of politics is not that of enmity. Fasehun is a good man, I respect him as a Nigerian and we can approach each other.
“But, I think he should accept the fact that he is no longer the national chairman of the Unity Party of Nigeria.”