I revived UPN because of Awolowo, says Paseda

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NIGERIA: THE candidate of the Unity Party of Nigeria (UPN) in the 2015 governorship election in Ogun State has explained why he revived the party to enable him contest on its platform.

Otunba Rotimi Paseda, who is the National Leader of the resuscitated UPN, the party founded by the late Premier of the old Western Region, Chief Obafemi Awolowo, said that he rejigged the party into national relevance because of the late politician from Ikenne.

Paseda made this known while featuring on a live radio programme, Podium, on Sweet FM in Abeokuta, the Ogun State capital.

He recalled that the revival process started with people of like minds while he was abroad, adding that on arrival in Nigeria he contacted Dr. Fredrick Faseun who supported the move.

According to him, within four months he registered the party and launched it for the 2015 general election.

“I started the process of reviving in diaspora with like minds and when I returned to the country I consulted Fredrick Faseun,” he said, adding: “It took us just four months to revive the party into relevance.”

He stressed: “I chose UPN because of the late Obafemi Awolowo’s policies, which I was a beneficiary.”

Paseda, who said that the party had presence in 17 states of the federation, however, admitted that the time the UPN came into the election to contest was too.

This development, he noted, accounted for the inability of the UPN candidates to win at the 2015 polls.

The businessman turned politician stated that the period also taught him some political lessons.

The lessons, he stressed, had made him more optimistic in the 2019 election, which would be a different ball game.

The governorship hopeful maintained that he remained the candidate to beat in the next political dispensation in the Gateway State.

Paseda, while shedding more lights on why he picked UPN for his political journey, explained that he did so because of the foundation Awolowo left behind.

“I am the person to beat in the next political dispensation; I have the time to prepare now unlike the last dispensation that took us four months to prepare and go into election. UPN structure was weak then,” the multimillionaire politician said.

While saying that he should be exempted from “roforofo politics” in the country, he maintained that he was not interested in do or die politics.

He, however, stressed that politics should be seen as a hobby and not a job.

Paseda stated that if elected as governor in 2019, traditional rulers in the state would form members of his extended executive to run affairs of the state.

He also said that he would involve all past governors of the state in his government as a way to tap knowledge and wisdom from them.

The politician promised to do a lot to improve the youths and ensure their growth under his administration.