OPC President, Prince Osibote Cries Out: "The Political class wants to Hijack OPC"
The President of Oodua Peoples Congress (OPC), Prince Osibote, has strongly criticized the governors of the South-west states for allegedly recruiting their political thugs in the name of "Amotekun" security outfit.
The leader of the authentic umbrella of Yoruba cultural group founded by late Dr. Frederick Fasehun, Oodua Peoples Congress (OPC) warned the six South-west governors and other interested parties in the proposed security outfit known as 'Operation Amotekun'. He warned that Chief Gani Adams does not have any moral, legal or social authority to carry out transaction/representation in the name of OPC.
He stated that as the President of OPC he want all and sundry to note that the organization is one indivisible entity and that he ascended the leadership of OPC after the passage to Glory of the Founder, Dr. Fasehun.
"For avoidance of doubts, the OPC which I lead will not do anything tantamount to destruction of Yoruba interest. It is regrettable to disclaim for the umpteenth time, that Adams does not represent OPC. We have already initiated legal process to stop him from parading himself either as a member or leader of OPC. Anyone who deals with him in this regard does so at his or her risk.
He went on to commend the Amotekun initiative by governors of the South-west states. "While it is a timely, novel and a necessary initiative, we believe that the contribution and participation of all stakeholders must be sought. In our case, we seek to contend with the legitimacy of the OPC involved inorder to achieve an outstanding take off. We state this bearing in mind our modest initiative which has culminated through various permutations into this laudable Operation Amotekun.
According to the Apex leader of OPC, "Amotekun is a Yoruba response to unprovoked attack and killings of our people by unidentified persons, masquerading as Fulani herdsmen. Part of Amotekun assignment should be to unravel the true identity of these killers and present incontrovertible evidence to indict and prosecute them".
"The OPC under my leadership is ready to work with the governors and other constituted authorities to secure Yorubaland in particular and the rest of Nigeria in general".
We are not averse to colaborating with other groups with similar interests, but we are not willing to concede any space to any interloper, obtruder, impostor, and impersonator.
He challenged the South-west governors to make public, who they are communicating with in OPC because there are formal procedures and protocol.
While the OPC leader welcomes Operation Amotekun initiative, he advised that it must be in collaboration with relevant and genuine stakeholders.
The apparent non endorsement of the the launch of Operation Amotekun by the police, military authorities and other security agencies is posing a lot of questions, he stated. He went further to recall the scheming by groups that misled Gani Adams into distracting the Founder of OPC whose conscequence is still visible in OPC.
"It is a shame that with the volume of information available on OPC both on analogue and digital space, some South-west governors feign ignorance of the authentic OPC and it's succession since the death of the founding father, Dr. Frederick Fasehun. Remarkablly, only one South-west governor has kept with the ideals of Fasehun".
The OPC leader opines that the political class in Yorubaland want to hijack OPC for their selfish reasons, particularly those nurturing various political ambitions ranging from the highest political office to the lowest. "We have reinterated to them that OPC will never transform into a political party. However, our members are free to hold partisan views as they deem fit.
Prince Osibote warned the South West governors to guard against an outcome that may lead to more complex security issues than it was meant to solve in arrangement and implementaion of Operation Amotekun.