The Oodua
Peoples Congress, OPC, may have split down the middle following the violent
protests carried out on Monday in Lagos by a group under the control of Gani
Adams. The OPC National Co-Ordinating Council on Monday blasted Adams for
organizing the violent protest calling for the removal of the Chairman of the
Independent National Electoral Commission, Professor Attahiru Jega. The council
added that Adams has not only betrayed the OPC, but also the Yoruba nation. The
statement was issued by Comrade Shina Akinpelu, on behalf of other members of
the council who also were pioneer members of the OPC. It reads: “We, the
members of the National Coordinating Council of the Oodua People’s Congress,
OPC, the highest ruling body of the organization,
wish to disassociate ourselves from the shameful, destructive, violent and reactionary activities of the Gani Adam-led team which occurred in Lagos today. What was witnessed today in Lagos was the highest level of political violence sponsored and funded by certain elements in the Jonathan government. “Gani Adams is on his own and does not enjoy the support of a large size of our membership spread across the country. He is working for the sponsors of violence against our people who want the March 28 elections not to hold. Unleashing terror on innocent citizens and killing them is not the way of democracy. It is not our idea of a people-oriented advocacy.
wish to disassociate ourselves from the shameful, destructive, violent and reactionary activities of the Gani Adam-led team which occurred in Lagos today. What was witnessed today in Lagos was the highest level of political violence sponsored and funded by certain elements in the Jonathan government. “Gani Adams is on his own and does not enjoy the support of a large size of our membership spread across the country. He is working for the sponsors of violence against our people who want the March 28 elections not to hold. Unleashing terror on innocent citizens and killing them is not the way of democracy. It is not our idea of a people-oriented advocacy.
Gani Adams is on dubious project. He is using
the Pipleline contract from the Jonathan government as a ploy or excuse to
recruit people to work for Jonathan and PDP in the South West. Gani Adams is
acting against Yoruba interest. The compromises he has made amounts to selling
the Yoruba to the present government for a piece of Pipeline contract to line
his pockets. OPC is not about Pipleline contracts or any other contracts for
that matter. The Yoruba interest is beyond contracts. We seek justice and fairness
from the current government. “We, members of the National Coordinating Council
of the Odua People’s Congress, OPC, call all true Yoruba leaders, sons and
daughters to stand with us in totally condemning Gani and his anti-democratic
tendencies. We must renounce him and remind him he cannot sell the Yoruba race
to Jonathan and PDP on the cheap. He also has no authority to speak on behalf
of the Yoruba people. We pity those who rely on him to win votes. They will be
sorely disappointed. Their investment is a bad one already. We reject today and
always any attempt to use our organization and its members for narrow and
selfish partisan purposes. “We must remind them that the Yoruba people cannot
be hoodwinked by sweeteners. No one should expect them to kow tow to an
individual who is a Lilliputian in the political development and history of the
Yoruba nation. The Yorubas are a politically sophisticated persons and will
simply ignore political opportunists like Gani Adams. We renounce him and his
activities which are against the larger Yoruba interest. We renounce all other
Yoruba sons and daughters who are playing roles inimical to the welfare and
interest the larger Yoruba nation. “We call on our people to be vigilant
politically at this time. Nigeria needs a new leadership, a new direction and a
country that works
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