Otunba Gani Adams has cautioned the Governor of Ogun State, Ibukunle Amosun from making frivolous allegations against ethnic militias in Nigeria.
Otunba Gani Adams, the National Coordinator of OPC
In a statement signed and made available to news men on Wednesday, Otunba Gani Adams, the National Coordinator of Oodua Peoples Congress (OPC), has cautioned the Governor of Ogun State, Ibukunle Amosun from making frivolous allegations against ethnic militias in Nigeria.
He described the statement credited to Amosun that OPC and other groups had secession tendencies as 'unfortunate and frivolous'.
Adams said, "I would have ignored the comment as the ranting of an ant but coming from a Governor of a state in Yoruba land who is supposed to know the import and magnitude of secession to the sovereignty and unity of Nigeria, I have to make our stand clear.
"The statement is not only shameful and unexpected, but a brazen act of blackmail which is totally false. The fact is that for 12 years, OPC has not done anything or embark on any act that is secessionist in nature.
"We have not through act or deed, mentioned secession or break up of this country. It is indeed shocking how the Governor of Ogun State came about his so called ‘secessionist tendencies’ of OPC. He must be hallucinating."
Adams said it amounts to libel for Amosun to label OPC as a secessionist group, insisting that OPC is a socio-cultural group determined to protect the territorial-cultural integrity of Yoruba people within the confine of a truly Federal Republic of Nigeria.
"This is why I participated in the National Confab with resolved for Regionalism not breaking up of the country.
"It is sad that people like Governor Amosun who were hiding their heads and carousing under the comfort of their families during the Abacha tenure of terror when we were fighting for the re-establishment of democracy in Nigeria are the ones reaping where they did not sow.
"We don’t even begrudge them for this but they are now assaulting our integrity with aggressive and intimidating verbal cholera to project us who were in the trenches as felonists and secessionists."
Adams advised Amosun to look for a more better and presentable onions to sell and position himself for a national recognition and respect instead of telling brazen lies and outright falsehood against OPC.
"I expected him to read the statement of the Governor of Ondo State, Dr Segun Mimiko who publicly testified to the confidence in the conduct of OPC members and how people feel secure with them.
"I am not disappointed in him. It is the effect of what they called folio de grandeur, stupidity of greatness. But Amosun should remember that Governor’s tenure is temporal but Yoruba race and its development will outlive him."