Enough Of These Falsehood

The Lagos State Coordinator, Alhaji Mutairu Adesina, of Oodua Peoples Congress (OPC) condemned in strong term the falsehood being peddle around by mischievous and disgruntled elements whose main objective is to cast aspersions on the image and name of our leader, Otunba Gani Adams.


Adesina said, "For the umpteenth time, the State Chapter is compelled to react to the spurious allegations being leveled against our leader, Otunba Gani Adams, by people claiming to be members and leaders of the Oodua People's Congress (OPC)."





"Their latest effort to malign our leader is an attempt to drag Otunba Adams before the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) over various baseless allegations published in the national dailies of Monday, March 14, 2016. Among their allegations were the formation of Oodua Progressives Union (OPU) and Oodua Voice, which according to them, were formed to rip people off".




"They equally alleged that the sum of #20 million, which they claimed was paid as compensation to the OPU for killing of our members in Owo in 2002, was diverted. Other allegations include an alleged sum of #22 million US dollars from the late Libyan leader, Ghadafi and diversion of ID cards money among others."






"While one may want to overlook these allegations as a ranting of some confused, frustrated and wicked people, we, the true leaders of the OPC feel it is high time that these people stopped their wicked machinations, which of course are aimed at one thing, to malign and bring down Otunba Gani Adams."




"It is indeed laughable that anybody in his right senses would condemn the formation of OPU and Oodua Voice, much more alleging that they were meant to rip off the people. For the benefit of those who don't know, the OPU is an organization formed to bring together and unite Yoruba sons and daughters in the diaspora. And to the best of my knowledge, since the formation of the organisation, it has created a big forum for all Yorubas in foreign lands to unite and speak with one voice. It must be said that the OPU now have branches in more than 64 countries around the globe, with more struggling to come on board. It is the same for Oodua Voice. It was formed to give Yorubas all over the world a voice, which ordinarily they would not have been opportune to have."




"Giving what these two organisations have done to our image abroad, especially by promoting the culture and tradition of Yoruba people all over the world, I think Otunba Adams deserves our commendation instead of all these efforts to bring him down."






"On the 22 million US dollars allegedly received from Ghadafi, I would love to ask these people three fundamental questions: (1). They should come out and tell the world the account through which the money was paid. (2). They should also tell the world what the money was meant for. (3). As we speak, the OPC has been actively involved in the promotion of Yoruba culture and tradition all over the world. If that is the case, was this Ghadafi's money meant to promote Yoruba culture? Ghadafi is an Arab, and he was well-known to promote activities that have to do with his people and Islam. I doubt if he will ever promote the tradition and culture of Yoruba people. Sincerely, I don't know what he would gain from such thing."




"It will therefore, interest you to know that this has been the major focus of the OPC and Olokun Festival Foundation in the last fifteen years."


Therefore, they should tell the world the relationship between Otunba Adams and Ghadafi. (4) Information at my disposal has it that Otunba Adams has never travelled to any North African country. So they should furnish us with how, where and who witnessed his meetings with Ghadafi.




At the beginning, these bad people used the name of a faceless organization, Global Civilians for Peace in Libya, led by one Abass Ibn Idris, as asking Otunba Adams and Dokubo for their money. But it was after we discovered that this organization is faceless that they chose to come out themselves.


I am also aware that after this allegations were made, Otunba Adams wrote a petition to the State Secret Service (SSS), Lagos State Command, through his lawyer, Barrister Kehinde Oluwole, asking the organization to investigate the source of the story. But, unfortunately, as we speak, nothing has been heard from the SSS.


On the allegation of #20 million allegedly paid as compensation for the killing of our members in Owo. It is highly regrettable that anybody would play with an issue as painful as the death of a comrade. The particular incident remains one of the saddest in the annals of OPC, and I am sad that these people are now trying to play politics with such issue. I particularly regard this case as dancing on the graves of those comrades killed on that day.


However, one thing that I find common in both the Ghadafi case and Owo allegations is that the two people who allegedly paid the money are dead. It is obvious that the dead cannot defend himself or speak. And both Governor Adebayo Adefarati and Ghadafi are dead, maybe this is the reason why these people have chosen to use their names to give their names to give their lies a face.


And speaking on the alleged ID card fraud, the records are there for everybody to see. This particular allegation is indeed very funny. These impostors should asked the last time they themselves paid for the organisation's ID card, that is if they ever paid for it during their time with the OPC.


"It is important to note that all the signees of the alleged petition, except just three, namely Moruf Salam, Adeola Adeagbo and Rotimi Akinsowon, are not members of the OPC or have been expelled from the organization long before now.


And it is only these three that indeed rose to the position of NCC until they were removed for anti-organisation activities recently."



He said, "members of the National Coordinating Council (NCC) of the OPC has implicit confidence in the leadership of Otunba Gani Adams. We urged him to seek redress in court in order to put an end to these false allegations."


By: Tunde Lanre