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Tag: gani adams

  • There will be change when we work for it – Kudirat’s daughter

    There will be change when we work for it – Kudirat’s daughter

    Dr Hafsat Abiola-Costello, daughter of the late pro democracy activist, Alhaja Kudirat Abiola, on Sunday called on Nigerians to do their best to achieve the Nigeria of their dream.

    Hamsat made the call at the commemoration of the 21st anniversary of Kudirat’s death.

    The event which held at Kudirat’s graveside in Ikeja, was organised by the Kudirat Abiola Initiative for Democracy (KIND) and Women Arise for Change Initiative (WA).

    The event had the theme “21 Years After Kudirat: The Way Forward’’.

    TheNewsGuru reports that Kudirat, Wife of the late Chief MKO Abiola, was assassinated on June 4, when her husband, believed to be the winner of June 12, 1993 Presidential Election, was in detention.

    Hamsat, the President of KIND, said: “If all of us start working for change, there will be true change.

    “If we are working for change, we must not play the game of corruption or claim to be superior to others.

    “We should protect each other for the betterment of Nigeria; this was what Kudirat did.’’

    Dr Joe Okei-Odumakin, President of WA, claimed that the country’s problem resulted from a dysfunctional structure.

    “Our problem is as a result of a dysfunctional structure; we have to restructure this country so that we can have true federalism,’’ she said.

    According to her, Kudirat was killed in her struggle for actualising June 12, 1993 Presidential Election.

    She noted that the election was believed to be free, fair and credible.

    Chief Gani Adams, the National Coordinator of Odua People’s Congress (OPC), also said that Nigeria needed true federalism.

    “We have intermarried and are doing things together, but we have yet to put ourselves together as one,” Adams said.

     

  • Why we are demanding Oduduwa nation – Gani Adams

    Why we are demanding Oduduwa nation – Gani Adams

    National Coordinator of the Oodua Peoples Congress, OPC, Otunba Gani Adams, has given reasons why the Yorubas are now desperate to leave Nigeria.

    Adams noted that Nigeria is no longer a country where anyone would want to call his.

    He noted that restructuring is no longer in the minds of Yoruba youths as they now support self determination on the basis of having their own nation.

    He told the Sun, “If you sample the opinion of the youths and others in Yoruba land, they are even tired of restructuring.

    “They are more in support of self-determination. They want self-determination on the basis of having their own nation.

    “It is something that is very clear to everybody. The situation is worrisome because in Nigeria, some people say let us try and solve the problem but others say the problem must continue because they are benefitting from the system.

    “In our experience at the National Conference, the various interests did not want to follow the same path.

    “People from a particular region believe that we should continue to be patching up Nigeria unlike others who wanted a permanent solution to our problems.

    “When you tell them that this is what happened in other countries including the United States and Britain, they would tell you that we should continue with the present structure.

    “So, with the way things are going, the youth who want to have a better society have the rights to clamour for self-determination.

    “I agree with Pa Adebanjo that Yoruba youths are clamouring for self-determination.

    “Even some of us that are leaders of the youths, we have to calm them that if you are asking for a nation, we do not think that it would come in the spirit of peace and that we do not want war.

    “What we are saying is that later we can become a nation but now, let us go with restructuring.”

  • If govt asks for our help, we will fight militants – OPC

    If govt asks for our help, we will fight militants – OPC

    The Oodua Peoples Congress has put up a defence over its inaction against the Niger Delta militants, suspected to be the brains behind the latest attack on Isheri North Estate GRA in Lagos, in which a landlord was kidnapped and three security guards killed.

    Leader of the group, Gani Adams, who has been credited in the past with saying that Niger Delta militants would never gain a footing in the South-West, explained that the government had made it impossible to launch a war against the criminals who operate in the Lagos creeks.

    According to Adams, he had been cautioned in the past by the police “for saying the truth.”

    He said, “For instance, after the abduction of the Oba of Iba and subsequent arrest of about 130 suspects between June and August, 2016, I was summoned to the police headquarters in Lagos.

    “The commissioner of police said there was a signal from Abuja that I should be careful with my statements so that I would not cause an inter-ethnic crisis. I told them I could not keep quiet when my people were being killed.

    “If you are not called to save someone and you venture into such an operation, you can land in trouble. If the government believes that we have a role to play in security, it would carry us along.

    “We would try our best to rout the militants if the government tells us it needs our assistance.”

    Adams said the group, had in the recent past, been portrayed in a negative manner in the same areas it was supposed to operate.

    Kidnappers had on Thursday abducted a landlord in Isheri North Estate GRA, Lagos, killing three security guards.

  • I never asked Gani Adams to resign as OPC leader – Ooni

     

    The Ooni of Ife, His Imperial Majesty, Oba Adeyeye Enitan Ogunwusi Ojaja II has refuted media reports in which he was quoted to have ordered the Coordinator of the Odu’a Peoples Congress (OPC), Otunba Gani Adams to vacate his position.

    Oba Ogunwusi made this known in a statement made available to journalists by his Director of Media and Public Affairs, Comrade Moses Olafare.

    The monarch who described Gani Adams as an unapologetic loyalist of Ooni’risa maintained that he has invested so much of resources into the socio-cultural emancipation of Oodua race and can only be treated with a deserved reciprocation of love and respect as a patriotic Ooduan who has never hesitated to demonstrate love and respect to the sacred throne of Oduduwa.

    “Baba Ooni never at anytime claimed to have ordered Otunba Gani Adams to resign as the Leader of the OPC. He sees him as an unapologetic loyalist son who has always treated him as his father with love and absolute respect.

    “Otunba Adams is a great Ooduan and veteran Oodua Self-determinationist who has invested so much the socio-cultural emancipation of the Oodua race. That is why we have always welcomed him as a member of the inner chamber of the Ooni’s Palace”. Olafare said.

    On the request by a factional group of OPC members on a visit to the Ooni at Ile-Ife recently begging him to intervene in the OPC matters, the Yoruba foremost monarch admonished all the factions within the Pan-Yoruba group to close ranks and work together as one big family in the interest of unity and peace in Yorubaland.

    “Baba said to them to close ranks in the interest of peace and unity of Yorubaland. He assured them of his fatherly support at all time as long as the unity of Yorubaland is not in jeopardy.

    “Kabiyesi Ooni’risa is even expecting the members of OPC, and the members of Oodua Progressives Union (OPU) as well as the members of Olokun Festival Foundation at the annual Oodua Festival slated for January 25th and 26th in Ile-Ife”.

     

  • OPC hails DSS over arrest of Boko Haram suspects in Lagos

    OPC hails DSS over arrest of Boko Haram suspects in Lagos

    The Oodua People’s Congress (OPC) has hailed the Department of State Services for its vigilance, which led to the arrest of suspected Boko Haram members in Lagos State.

    The commendation was contained in a statement on Sunday by the National Coordinator of the OPC, Otunba Gani Adams.

    The DSS had on Tuesday said it arrested four Boko Haram members in Lagos.

    The secret service said the Boko Haram members, who fled from Borno State, were arrested in Oko Oba area of Lagos State.

    Adams who praised the DSS also warned criminal elements in the South West and other States with OPC’s presence that they would not be allowed to fester.

    Adams said his group was on the alert to combat any untoward development or atrocity by Boko Haram members, adding: “This is also to warn those who are out to cause division within the rank of the Yoruba speaking people of the South West and North Central States that their antics would be resisted.

    “We as a group are out to ensure the unity of the Yoruba race as this is the only way to maintain the cohesiveness that exists at present.

    “As such, dissidents who feel they can use the opportunity of the dialogue platform being created among the Yoruba race, especially for and by our revered monarchs, to cause disunity will not only have their moves truncated but disgraced and exposed for who they are.”

    Adams called for vigilance among Yoruba speaking people so as not to allow “the enemy infiltrate to wreck havoc”.

  • OPC leader warns members against violence

    OPC leader warns members against violence

    Mr Maruf Olarewaju, Kwara Coordinator, Odua People’s Congress (OPC) on Sunday warned members of the congress in the state against fomenting trouble that could dent the image of the group.

    Olarewaju, who gave the warning at the state congress of the group in Ilorin, explained that the incumbent leadership of the group in the state was determined to rebrand the image of the group.

    Olarewaju, who spoke to the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) on the sideline of the congress, promised that the leaders of the group in the state would soon come up with empowerment programme for its members.

    “We are trying to bring in some innovations for our members for them to know that OPC is now a different group.

    “OPC’s name was dented some years back. People believed it was a group of hoodlums and thugs that foment trouble,’’ he said.

    The coordinator told NAN that since his assumption of office in 2006, he had changed the wrong perception, adding that the former leaders failed to explain the mission of the group to their followers.

    He said: “since I know the people of Ilorin and what they stand for, when I assumed office in 2006, we had to go back to the drawing board to find out what the people of Ilorin want.

    “We noticed there was a communication gap; the past leaders failed to explain the mission of OPC.

    “So we started to package the group and mobilise the people to correct their wrong impression of the group.”